Life As We Knew It
by RantWaitingToHappen
Summary: Tony is leading a double life, and it's about to come out into the open and reveal his past to everyone, making them realize Tonys true potential. Lots of smartcompetenthurtTony! Teamfamilyloveinteraction/bonding! And Lots of GibbsTony Slash! Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi, this is my first fic...ever, and I hope you guys enjoy it. Few things I'd like to mention: Kate is still alive, so I guess this is a little AU, and there's plenty of slash and competentawesomesexyTony in this story, so yeah.

ONE.

FIVE WEEKS. Kate internally cheered. She had never thought she'd miss Tony so much as she had these last few weeks. The whole team had taken two weeks off from work—the Directors orders, of course, after a few bumps and bruises, and a particularly grueling case had gotten them down—even Gibbs hadn't been too reluctant on giving his team a well deserved break, and had even begrudgingly accepted his own two weeks paid vacation. Kate had gone to Maui and taken a load off, even met a very attractive gentleman in the hotel she'd been staying at. McGee had gone home to his parents house in California, and hung out with some high school friends who still occupied the old neighborhood—he'd missed his family dearly, and needed reassurance after the harsh case they'd endured. Gibbs had predictably stayed in his basement for the most of the two weeks, and preoccupied himself with his boat.

Even Gibbs had to admit it was somewhat relaxing—although he had missed his team—one in particular. Two weeks later, and the Gibbs team were occupying their desks, early Monday morning, ready to get back to work. Gibbs had gotten there first, Kate could tell, because his second coffee cup was already there, at his empty desk, by the time she'd approached hers. McGee got there five minutes later, and the two made small talk, mostly about how their weeks were spent, and both had grinned when they'd mentioned Abby texting them at least twice every few hours, wanting updates on her favorite NCIS team. Not ten minutes later, Gibbs strolled by, with his third cup of coffee that morning, and nodded a greeting to both his employees.

"Where the hell's DiNozzo?" he barked out, as he sat behind his desk, without bothering to turn on his computer—useless contraption that it was.

Kate hid her grin, when she replied, "Probably forgot his two weeks were up, Gibbs."

One hour and twenty eight minutes later, Gibbs was beginning to think maybe he _had_ forgotten his two damn weeks were up. Worried, but not wanting to admit it to his team, he called Tonys' cell phone. Kate and McGee traded concerned glances, as they saw their boss reach for the phone. Kate was hoping Tony really _had_ let it slip his mind and slept in. McGee, who didn't think Tony was _that_ dense, figured maybe his plane had gotten delayed from wherever he'd gone over the past two weeks.

The second the phone was answered, Gibbs geared up to give his senior field agent a good reaming out, "DiNozzo! Where in the hell—"

"Boss?" Tonys' voice interrupted, confused, then, "Crap, I'm sorry Gibbs, it's Monday, isn't it?"

Gibbs sat there for a moment, stunned to silence. "You _did_ forget?" Furry ignited him. Kate and McGee, secretly listening in, both gaped.

Kate bit her lip and muttered, "You idiot." Her concern for her fellow agent going up a notch when Gibbs face became a mask of utter fury. Tony was dead for sure, the second he got here—if he wasn't fired first, of course.

"If you don't have a damn good excuse for being an hour and a half late, after a two weeks paid vacation, I swear, DiNozzo, don't even bother coming in!" Gibbs took a small pause to take a breath and continue, but Tony beat him to it.

"My Dad died." Tony said, sounding solemn and little jaded, at the same time, his voice sounding very soft over the phone, all of a sudden. Gibbs realized this was the first time he'd heard him call his old man anything but 'Father'. "It happened yesterday night, so I took a flight out first thing this morning, for Long Island, and I completely forgot about work, and about notifying you that I wouldn't be in—I'm sorry Boss." He sounded genuinely sorry, and like he was about to keep going, but Gibbs cut him off.

"Damn, DiNozzo." He said, truly feeling for his agent, "Take as much time as you want—"

"I'll need three weeks—I've got to handle the funeral and his company and all that jazz, so I'll be pretty occupied for a while." Tony informed the older man, hating the fact that he was partially lying to his boss.

"That's fine, Tony—just, call if you need anyone to…" Jethro paused for a moment, not very good with handling these sorts of things, "To talk to. I'll inform the Director about your three week leave. And Tony? For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks Boss—for everything. I'll see you guys in a few weeks." With that, for the first time in history, Tony was the first to hang up on Gibbs, instead of the other way around.

Kate and McGee both looked with heightened interest as Gibbs put the phone down on its holder.

Agent Todd was the first to speak out. "What happened with Tony, Gibbs?" she inquired.

"He'll be taking a leave for the next three weeks, Kate, his father just passed away." With that said he got up and went upstairs, the two shocked agents assumed, to tell the Director of his senior field agent's absence.

"Poor Tony." McGee sympathized, thinking back on the fact that he'd just spent two calming weeks in the presence of his own beloved family.

"Yeah," Kate agreed, knowing what a wreck she'd be if either of her own parents had died. She couldn't even think of the possibility. "I hope he's okay." She said aloud, almost to herself.

"You hope who's okay?" Abby, who'd waltzed into their pen unnoticed, despite the large, black, spiked boots she had on, asked curiously, tilting her head so that her pigtails went with it.

Kate bit her lip and grimaced; she'd been hoping not to be the one who had to give Abby the bad news, she always took tragic news to heart. "Tony's dad died, Abby. He won't be coming in for the next three weeks." She told her nonetheless.

"What? Oh my God, my poor Tony!" she nearly sobbed, large eyes going watery. "He must be miserable! I have to call him, quick Kate, give me your phone!"

"Abs, give him some time—he didn't exactly sound talkative over the phone, he'll call you when he's good and ready." A voice from behind her said, spooking all three.

"Gibbs!" She yelped in surprise, then pouted, "This sucks, I can't even comfort him, or give him Bert, Tony loves Bert, you know!" she babbled sadly.

"I'm sure he does," Gibbs assured, patting Abby on the head gently, "The moment he calls, I'll tell him how worried you are, and to call you, ok?"

She nodded forlornly, and sighed, hoping that phone call came sooner than later, because she needed to know her favorite NCIS agent and best friend, was alright.

Except, this call did not come soon—in fact, it didn't come at all. Three weeks without hearing a single word from DiNozzo, hell, he wouldn't even answer his cell phone; it just went straight to voicemail.

So, Kate found out that five weeks without Anthony DiNozzo did not bode well with any of the NCIS team. Gibbs was an extra brand of bastard—making several people, witnesses, secretaries, other agents, even criminals, cry over the three week span, and Kate had never really considered herself a Probie, but even she was reluctant to face Gibbs, in fright she might stutter, as McGee had been doing nonstop for the last three weeks. Poor Tim, he'd reverted completely back into his shell, and was fulltime Probie. And the tension in the pen was always unbearably high, without Tony there to say some dumb joke, or make paper balls and toss them at Kate and McGee. And Kate had never realized how Tony blocked Gibbs bad moods from completely obliterating her or McGee before—Tony had completely shielded them from him, and she'd never even appreciated it before now. McGee had similar sentiments and found himself praying at nights that the teams' senior field agent came back soon.

In fact, they missed him so much, that after the first three days, the two had marked a calendar in the office, and in their own separate homes, with Tonys' return date. Of all people, Abby was in a crabby mood. She nearly growled at them whenever they came downstairs for results on a DNA sample or something—she had marked her own calendar with black skulls and complained constantly that time wasn't going nearly fast enough. Even Ducky, known for his calm and peaceful presence, was behaving oddly. Palmer missed the talkative older man, he'd come to see as a wise mentor, and hoped the former cop returned soon, to where he was not only needed, but missed as well. Ducky was much quieter, and he and Gibbs would exchange slightly mournful looks whenever they crossed paths.

Upon observing all this, Kate was quite shocked to find that without Tony, their dynamics literally fell apart. They'd had two cases in those three weeks—each had taken longer than usual, and when they had managed to solve them, they'd found Tony probably would've made the connection a lot earlier on than they had, and chided themselves for it. Gibbs was insufferable and just plain old mean, Abby was miserable and moody as hell, Ducky was quiet and sighed almost constantly—they were all acting as if their best friend had died, God forbid. Kate found that she actually had looked forward to trading barbs with Tony, and fighting for the front seat of the car, and bickering obnoxiously, and, hell, she missed _him_! Jesus, something was wrong with her. Something was terribly wrong with their little surrogate family without Tony there, she came to realize.

McGee missed all those dumb nicknames—McNerd, McObvious, and even McGoo! Tony was sometimes unbearable, but always took it upon himself to keep a look out for McGee, no matter what. When they were in the gym, and he was paired up with Tony, the man actually took the time to teach him some moves and technique, and how to defend himself properly, instead of intimidating him, like only Gibbs could, or going all out, like Kate did, trying to impress the Boss. He could honestly say he missed the guy. He'd never take Tonys' presence for granted again, he vowed to himself, as he crossed off the last day on his calendar, that Sunday night.

Monday morning came, and all five co-workers—Gibbs, Kate, Tim, Abby, and Ducky—showed up early, at six am sharp, awaiting the arrival of one Anthony DiNozzo. The emotions in the room ranged from anxious to nervous excitement to full-blown happiness (Abby). "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! I can't wait!" Abby was bouncing all over the room, and for once, no one exactly minded, since this was the first time in weeks they'd seen the Goth truly happy. "I hope his plane got in on time! What if he isn't able to come today, 'cause of some delay? Oh my God, what if—"

"Dear Abigail, I am certain our boy will walk in through those elevator doors any minute now—" Ducky was saying, just as the elevator doors slid open, and five pair of eyes remained fixated on that one spot, until a figure stepped out.

Abby bound over, and hugged the figure, only once she'd pulled back slightly, did she notice how five weeks had changed her best friend almost dramatically—but in a good way, mind you. Tony had lost whatever 'extra' weight he'd had before those five weeks, and was now thin, but lean with pure muscles, and his green eyes stood out, startling on his face, now darkened to a light caramel colour by the sun, his hair dyed with natural streaks of light brown by the sun as well, and it was much thicker, longer in both the front and the back, it curled slightly at the nape of his neck, the front was untamed and slightly spiked—his hair resembling MacGyver's, Abby thought, just before noticing that he wasn't wearing his designer suit or his expensive tie, or even his Gucci shoes! He sported a white t-shirt, underneath an open red hooded sweater, and hip-hugging jeans, with regular worn out hiking shoes—similar to sneakers, but a dark beige color, black at the bottoms. He looked like a world-renowned model, who'd just stepped off the runway, if Abby had a say! And she did.

"Tony! You look incredibly gorgeous, and if we weren't surrogate siblings, I'd take you home right now in my purse!" Abby exclaimed bluntly, but then remembered herself, and blushed, throwing herself at him, in a big embrace, mumbling into his shoulder, "I'm so sorry about your dad, Tony." And then kissed him on the cheek, and promised to bring Bert over to him later this afternoon, to which Tony smiled and then kissed her back, on the forehead.

"I missed you too, Abs."

In the meanwhile, four NCIS workers were completely awe-struck and dumb. Abby was right, Tony looked much younger than his thirty years—twenty four, maybe. Gibbs pushed down the lust in his eyes and swallowed hard. He walked over to his senior field agent—his very attractive senior field agent, and gave him one of those odd one armed hugs, along with a "Welcome back, DiNozzo." And a half-smile he preserved for small children and victims. God, he had missed this man. He'd missed his amazing, infectious smile, his handsome face, his attracting personality—he'd missed everything about Tony.

"Thanks Boss." Tony smiled that wonderful smile of his in response, and the greetings went on, McGee also giving him an awkward hug, but with both hands, and a 'Glad to have you back, Tony, we really missed you.' Then apologizing for his loss.

Kate hugged Tony, not admitting she'd missed him like crazy, because it showed on her face, and then she too said how sorry she was for his loss. Ducky had given Tony a very warm and affectionate hug, that made Gibbs momentarily jealous that he couldn't find it in him to be that close and comfortable to the man he pined for. "Dear Anthony, I am so terribly sorry for your loss, and do offer my sympathies, but we felt our own loss here without you, we missed you awfully." Tony nearly melted in Ducky's embrace; he'd honestly missed them all too, and after five weeks of basic hell, it was nice to be back, and even nicer to hear that he'd been missed.

Had he returned to cold shoulders and barely acknowleging greetings like he had when he'd come back after the plague fiasco-even if they had been joking, it'd still been a complete bummer to come back and realize they'd functioned just fine without him. So this was a huge surprise and a simultanous relief.

Not to mention, he was dead on his feet right now, and practically leaning against Ducky, whom couldn't find it in himself to take his hands away from the younger mans back; now that he was 'home', he wanted Tony to remain there. Ducky was a bit taken back at how much he had longed for the mans' company-the man he looked upon as a son, friend, and co-worker, but certainly not surprised—he'd known he'd miss him the moment he heard the devastating news.

Half an hour later, Abby and Ducky very reluctantly went back to their separate labs, and the team went to sit behind their desks, in the bullpen.

Kate couldn't help but stare at Tony for a moment longer before powering up her computer; he was even more handsome than before, and _that_ was an understatement. Gibbs kept shooting short, unnoticed glances towards his senior field agents direction, every now and then, these looks varying, either one of concern for Tony, or utter lust. He hadn't thought it could be possible for his young crush to get any more good-looking, but he had, and it was driving him nuts!

Finally, the phone on his desk rang, and he stood up, "Gear up, we've got a case!" he announced, not failing to notice DiNozzo's slow response. Gibbs let it go, figuring he needed a little more time to get settled in.

In the car, he felt a rush, as Tony got in next to him for the first time in five weeks. Kate and McGee took their places in the passenger seats, in the back, and both smiled as Tony handed Gibbs a coffee cup, just the way he liked it, according to Gibbs pleasant smirk, after a sip. "Buckle in, Boss, wouldn't want to get pulled over by the cops." Tony smiled sweetly, buckling in himself, then saying, "You too, kids!" referring to his fellow agents in the back, both whom were too happy to have him back to retort.

The location was way out of their jurisdiction, at least two towns away, in fact, but apparently their specific group had been requested. So, it was a six and half hour ride to the crime scene. Kate inaudibly sighed in relief that Tony had showed up when he did, because she didn't even want to attempt imagining that much time in a car with a pissed off Gibbs—he'd probably have thrown them out of the car—without stopping or slowing down, even! Yeah, she could definitely see that happening; however, with Tony there, they were safe from any bodily harm!

Half an hour into the ride, Tony said suddenly, and unexpectedly, "I missed you guys…a lot." In a very honest, very sober tone, that almost made Gibbs hit the brakes and ask if he was ok.

Kate smiled, "Us too, Tony—even missed getting hit with your balls." The minute the words came out, she turned tomato red, and Tony held his stomach as he shook with laughter, almost choking with glee.

McGee went red as well, and tried to keep himself from laughing, although his shoulders shaking gave him away. Even Gibbs had to bite his tongue from laughing, but did let his smirk show. Kate grimaced, embarrassed, "You know what I meant!" but she liked seeing Tony laugh with such sincerity, and eventually joined in. Ten minutes later, the car of full grown adults had settled down—sans Tony texting Abby Kate's exact words to him, with an added 'Lol' at the end.

Twenty minutes later, Gibbs was annoyed to notice that Tony had been fidgeting in his seat for the last five minutes, so far, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "What is it, DiNozzo?" he barked out, a little guilty, when his agent jumped a in his seat.

"I have to go." He replied unhesitating.

For a minute, Gibbs just looked at him with icy blue eyes, "Where the hell to."

Tony shook his head, looking like an impatient child, "No, Boss, I mean _go_, go!" he emphasized, and Gibbs eyes widened a little in understanding.

"We'll stop in the next gas station we pass, DiNozzo." He assured the young man.

Kate and McGee were smirking in the back, silently. Once they'd gotten 'potty time' out of the way, (Gibbs made sure they _all_ went) they were back on the road, with a little more than five hours to go—even with Gibbs erratic, less than stellar driving on the highway.

"Hey Tony," Kate piped up, from the back, "How'd you spend your two weeks away?" she asked, curious.

He turned around a little, to face her, and smiled, happy he didn't have to lie entirely—after all, he had gone somewhere, just not exactly for vacation. "I went to the Sahara Dessert." He replied.

McGee gaped, "Really?" he asked, and then commented, "No wonder you're so tan."

Tony nodded, enthusiastically adding, "I got to ride a camel, McGoober! D'you know they have three eyelids? Senoia told me—she's very smart, like you—they have computers over there, you know." Tony rambled, and Tim blushed visibly when he commented on his intelligence, without a teasing or mocking voice at all.

"Who's Senoia? And why did you go to the desert, of all places?" Kate asked, incredulous.

"Senoia was the manager of the Auberge du Sud Hotel, where I was staying. And why not the desert? It's like…" he paused, "You know when you're in a crowded room, full to the brim, and everything's so loud you can't even hear yourself think, but you feel more lonely than you think you've ever been, despite it all? Well, being in Sahara was kind of the opposite of that feeling. It's so quiet, you can hear the wind whistling in your ears—it's like Utopia." He recalled fondly.

Kate's eyes softened. "Wow, that was…it must've been amazing." She uttered.

Gibbs had rarely heard his senior field agent speak so intricately and in detail about anything besides a film or a case. This was refreshing—Tony was almost philosophical, to a point.

The conversation varied, and the team caught up with eachother, and spoke about everything under the sun. Time had slipped by very subtley, and before they knew it, they were only a few blocks from their destined crime scene.

If only Tony had known what lay ahead of him, just maybe, he would have stayed in the desert...

TBC! I'm writing the next chapter now, I hope you guys review, let me know how you like it? (or if you don't, and have ways I can improve this story, feel free to tell me, too, please.) Thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you guys all so much for reading and the reviews-made my day! I hafta' warn you, things get a little dark while describing the crime scene here, but in the end, hopefully I haven't revealed too much about Tonys' past in this chapter? Anywho, all spelling & grammar mistakes are on me, feel free to correct me, please, I don't have Microsoft of anything, (wordpad ftw?) so yeah. Enjoy!

TWO.

"OH MY GOD." Special Agent Kaitlyn Todd muttered under her breath.

Gibbs had been a sniper for the marines in his youth, a grieving father and husband at one Godawful point in his life, and he'd been at this job since before NCIS _was _NCIS, had the NIS shirt to prove it and everything. So, he'd thought, there was absolutely nothing he had not seen in his lifetime; or at least nothing that could make him take a step back and gasp.

Oh how wrong he had been.

The scene of the crime was almost too grusome to take in. It was an understatement to say that blood drenched the decor'. Corporal Harvey Johnsons' wife was propped up on the couch, with her two young daughters at either side of her. Sally Johnsons' face was a mangled mess of blood and pieces of flesh, she was just barely identifiable. Her two twin girls, Jamie and Reina, only five years old, had had their eyes ground out of their eye sockets by two forks and a spoon-they had bled to death. The floral pattern on the family couch the three were very gently prepped up on by their killers was nothing but streaks of crimson, drenched and sticky with blood.

The sick person-more likely people-who'd done this atrocious act, had positioned the three corpses in...a disturbing manner, if it were possible for things to get any more perturbing than this, Kate thought, as she swallowed down the bile threatening to rise in her throat, with the mantra _You protected the Goddamn President of the United States Kate, get a grip! _in her head over and over.

Sally Johnsons hands were placed over her two young daughters faces, the sick S.' had placed her finger so that they were digging into their empty eye sock-"I can't." Kate swiftly turned away from the scene and fast-walked out of that house of horrors as quickly as her legs could carry her, joining McGee outside, who'd run out to barf in a bush a block away from the colonial two-story home as soon as he'd caught sight of the blood-curdling scene.

Gibbs didn't blame either of them, hell, he wanted to run. No amount of motive would ever give this madness reason, he knew that much already.

Even the family pet, a large golden retreiver, had had its' head hacked off, its' headless body strewn on the kitchen, a dark pool of blood covering the white tiled floor. The head was dangling ominously over the sink, on one of the cupboards' utensil hooks.

But the worst hands down had to be the Corporal himself. Harvey Johnson had been tied to a chair in front of his two girls and wife. They had dressed him up in his uniform and pulled a Joker, cutting open the sides of mouth, in a crude upward turn, a faux twisted rendition of a grin, blood and drool dribbled down his chin and neck. A butcher knife potruded from his chest-presumed to be the final blow.

What completed the horrendousness of this particular scene was the Corporals thirteen year-old son, stark naked, hands tied behind his back, every single tooth yanked out of his mouth-Oh God, Gibbs prayed for the child that it had been post-mortem-his head on his fathers lap, gums bloody and throbbing, kneeling in front of the Corporal. Harvey Johnsons member was outside of his uniform pants, flacid and covered in saliva and blood.

Gibbs wanted to vomit-the things these monsters had made this family do...

He tried breathing through his nose, controlling the urge to run outside and join his subordinates in their upchucking fest.

"Ducky just got here, I'm going to go warn him to leave Palmer outside for this one." Tonys' voice cut through Gibbs scrutinizing of this-what else could this be called, but a frenzied mess? He hadn't even noticed Tony taking photographs of the corpses and the evidence until now. How could he stomach this?

"Try working Halloween night shifts three years in a row at Baltimore-can't get anymore sick than that shit." Tony replied in a very blase' kind of way before going out to warn the Autopsy Gremlin.

Gibbs hadn't even realized he'd asked the question out loud. "Jesus Christ." He pinched the brigde of his nose and let out a shakey breathe. This was going to be one of _those _cases.

"Oh...Oh my..." Dr. Mallard, better known as Ducky to his friends, was only too glad he'd listened to Anthonys' forewarning and had ordered his young assistant Mister Palmer to wait outside by the truck. "This is...I have not seen something so...graphic..." words failed the coroner, and he could only stand and gape at the horrors and remember to pray tonight for these poor souls.

Kate and Tim chose that moment to slowly, almost cautiously, walk back into the scene of the crime. Gibbs took a deep breath and handed out the two remaining jobs to his team, since Tony had taken the liberty already to photograph most of the scene whilst the rest of them had had minor panic attacks-not that any of them would admit to it, if ever questioned.

Dinner was still on the table from last night, a pot roast, plates and spoons and forks and knives and cups all set up on the table-they'd been in the middle of dinner. How could anyone have foreseen this tragic turn of events? The press were going to have a field day with this one.

"This is sickening." Kate was raised a good Catholic girl, both her brothers had been more than unsupportive of her career choice. She was their baby sister, she was too soft, she was-she was distraught, disgusted, in disbelief. "How could another human being inflict so much pain and humiliation?" she whispered to herself, trying hard to focus Goddamnit, focus on the evidence on the couch, nevermind she was picking at a dead five year-olds cotton dress for traces of their killers' DNA.

McGee held up a cassette tape, "This was under Corporal Johnsons' chair Boss, they don't have a VCR so I thought it might be useful and we do have a VCR back at the bullpen, and I think it might be useful, because the little tape on the front, it reads 'NCIS', and unless the Corporal was aware of us, I mean, it's not everyday-"

"That's a good job McGee, put it in an evidence bag and tag it." Gibbs knew McGee was only rammbling to distract himself, and if it helped, so be it.

"Yes sir-Gibbs-Boss, sorry. I mean, not sorry, 'cause that's a sign of weak-"

"Probie, I'm running out of film, can you go out to the van and get me some?" Tony asked.

Tim shot Tony a grateful look before nodding and hurrying off.

The next several hours passed by in a blur of activity, Gibbs decided to spare McGee and Todd, and sent them off to interview neighbors and anybody who might've seen or heard anything. He and Tony got stuck doing the dirty work, searching the house for more evidence, tagging everything, sketching the premises, and they even had to go trekking in massive amounts of mud in the backyard to look for any signs of a break in or footprints that might lead to their killers.

Unfortunately, it had poured heavily that morning, before the bodies had been discovered by a nosey neighbor, who'd come over around 9am to borrow a cup of sugar, and upon not recieving a response, and seeing Harveys car still in the driveway, she'd narrowed her eyes and looked further into one of the windows, where the curtains were positioned in such a way that you could easily see the living room couch and entertainment set. It had been approximately eleven hours since then, the sun slowly setting, as it was now a little passed 7 o'clock, Gibbs realized.

The only reason they'd been called in to the case was because one of the police officers had realized the Corporals uniform was real, and had decided the case was too groteque for their suburbian neighborhood police to handle, and called NCIS in instead. Which normally would've been fine; he hated fighting for jurisdiction, but he always hated working away from home even more, Abby and Ducky weren't an elevator ride away, and with a passion, he hated using his cell phone to communicate with them. Right now, though, he was glad Abby wasn't anywhere near this mess.

He had sent Todd and McGee back to the hotel they were occupying until they'd solved the case, with evidence bags galore. They'd eventually have to bring in both their Gothic forensic genius and coroner, however, there really was no way around it; Gibbs didn't trust anyone else with the evidence or the bodies. He'd call them tonight when he got to the hotel and tell them to pack up and and be here bright and early tomorrow morning.

Deciding to call it a night, Gibbs called for Tony, "DiNozzo! We're done here, pack it in and get in the car!" he'd had Palmer bring one of NCIS' standard issued vehicles, knowing at one point his team would split and need transportation.

"On your six, Boss!" Tony answered from the backyard.

In the car, Tony fiddled with the radio stations as usual, trying to decide between some classical jazz or the oldies station, just to see if Gibbs would sing along with him. Gibbs knocked his hand away from the dial abruptly, and turned off the radio, making the younger man look up at him in surprise.

Gibbs glanced at him and decided this would probably be the only time they'd be alone, since at the hotel they'd be sharing a room with McGee, and possibly Ducky, so he might as well get this out of the way now, and began, "DiNozzo, I know you're probably still having a hard time dealing with your fath-"

"I don't want to talk about that." Tony cut him off, almost immediately, voice completely serious.

"DiNo-Tony," Gibbs paused, "I just want you to know, if you need to talk-"

"I don't." Tony cut him off again, being uncharacteristically indifferent about the whole thing, his tone sharp.

Gibbs could understand that, not wanting to talk, so he simply nodded his head and said, "Gotcha', but, just remember, I'm here Tony."

Tony looked away then, out the window, and didn't speak a single word or play with the radio or annoy his Boss with movie trivia the entire car ride to the hotel.

If he was still like this by tomorrow morning, Abby would bite Gibbs head off for upsetting her "baby", he fretted.

Upon arrival, Tony went directly into the bathroom, locking it closed behind him, in their shared room with two bunk beds. McGee on his laptop on the bed, barely acknowleged his or Gibbs presence. Tony turned on the shower head and started to undress, only checking once more that the door was locked. Normally, he wouldn't have cared whether the door was locked or not-it's not like Gibbs hadn't seen him in the nude before-that thing with the lizard hadn't exactly been his best moment...

It was the questions that would arise if either McGoobert or Gibbs saw the ugly bruises beneath his shirt. It wasn't as bad as it had been, but it still hurt like hell on occasion; it was a molted colour of purple and green, on his right side, extending from his first rib all the way down to his hip-Jesus did it hurt to bend. He checked out the large bruise on the mirror with a grimace. It had been such a long time since they'd even contacted him for an OP, and even he had to admit that he'd gotten used to being in Anthony DiNozzos' skin: Spoiled rich playboy extraordinaire, trust-fund baby living off his Daddys money, solving cases for fun as a fed at NCIS.

He and Anthony DiNozzo were such polar opposites, it was almost ironic. For the last few months now, he'd thought of telling Gibbs the truth-all of it, the whole shebang. There were laws against that, he'd be breaking the rules-but if he was honest with himself, the real reason he could never tell Gibbs and his team was...

"I'm scared." he muttered to the foggy reflection in the mirror. He'd promised himself not to, but he had grown attatched to these people, what if he told them the truth and they felt so betrayed they never wanted to see him again? He really didn't think he could go through that again and come out fully intact. The first time had nearly broken him. He'd only been seventeen-the things he'd seen that day were far worse than todays' blood-bath; maybe that's why he'd been a little jaded to the crime scene?

Five weeks in that desert had done him good though, despite the bruises and aches. He'd gotten rusty living as frivolous a life as Anthony DiNozzos'. After two weeks on the OP he'd dropped at least twenty pounds just by falling into his old routines again-running and a lack of food. Those had been the days, he thought sarcastically.

Running away from the cops had been like a game back then.

TBC! R&R please, makes my muse happy. :) Hope you guys liked it? I'm a little iffy on this chapter...


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Not much to say except that more of Tony will be revealed in this chapter, and thank you to Keembur who pointed out the NIS mistake, I totally forgot and was too lazy to check, so yeah, thanks. And thanks to all the awesome reviews. :) Enjoy! And again, feel free to point out any flaws so I can go back and fix 'em.

THREE.

ZERO SUSPECTS.

It seemed as if no one held a grudge against the Johnsons, they weren't in any financial crisis, the Corporal hadn't been involved in anything that would ruffle any feathers. The family was friendly and according to their teary-eyed neighbor across the street "They were just a joy to be around."

Gibbs was slowly but steadily getting fed up with their lack of progress. "Damnit people, this couldn't have just been a random act of violence!" He slammed his open palms on some cops desk at the bullpen his team was occupying for the remainder of the case.

"Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs Gibbs!" A bundle of Abby hopped in, carrying the video cassette in her open-fingered striped gloves with little black bows on them. "There were seriously no finger prints on this vid, Gibs, I dusted it myself several times." she announced merrily.

Gibbs clenched and unclenched his jaw in an attempt not to yell at the young woman. "And why do you seem happy about our none-existant leads, Abigail?" he asked, through gritted teeth.

"Becaaaause, Bossman, now we get to watch the tape and possibly find new leads!" she replied giddily.

"We?" he inquired, taking the tape and telling McGee to put it in the VCR on the big screen in the middle of their bullpen.

"Yes, 'we', I spent precious time dusting that thing down for prints, I wanna' know what's on this baby." She countered, looking for a good seat, and when she could find none, she placed herself on Tonys' lap, who instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her firmly seated.

Seeing as Tonys' current desk was closest to the television display, the team gathered at his desk, curious to see the contents of the tape. Gibbs hit the play button, knowing that if there was one piece of technology he could work, it was a VCR, and hoping like hell this tape led them somewhere closer to wrapping up this grusome case, they sat back and watched avidly.

After a few seconds the video started playing; the shadow of a man came up on the dark screen, and after a moment, he spoke, but he was clearly using a voice over, to disguise his true voice.

_"Hello Jethro, Kate, Tim? I hope I'm not being too informal, I mean, I know so much about you and you don't even know my name." _he paused to scoff,_ "But that would be silly, seeing as we've never actually met-well, I digress. Hi to the delightful Abby and Ducky, as well, if they're in the room right now." _

Gibbs fists were clenched so tight he could barely feel his hands anymore. This madman knew about his team, knew them by first names? The powerful urge to throw his team into the van and get the hell out of dogde surged through him; he needed to protect them, they were his responsibility, and now some sociopath with a camera was apparently stalking them.

Abby felt Tonys grip on her tighten, and despite the imminent danger, she couldn't help but feel safe in his arms. Kate and McGee were on alert; this maniac had done this to get their attention and hell if he hadn't managed to do a good job of it.

_"But, greetings aside, how did you guys like my display? Rather artistic don't you think? I tried my best to impress you, but I don't know, I feel like I need to get more creative next time, you know? I feel like you were elsewhere today, Anthony." _The man continued, everybody quite aware that he'd stopped talking to everyone in general and was now only adressing their senior field agent.

_"I was a tad dissapointed in your reaction, but then, you were always so unpredictable. I know you don't know me, not yet anyway, but I've been in love with you for years Anthony-hahah, Anthony...that name, it suits you so well. It rolls right off the tongue. You have no idea how long I've been looking for you, love. And then, when I finally finally found you-God, how you've grown! _

_You're still as beautiful as you were back then-I only wish you hadn't dyed your hair, blonde had been your trademark, remember? I'm rammbling aren't I? I'm sorry, I'm just so happy to have found you again after all these years! I know what I did thirteen years ago, I know now that that's what drove you away from me, baby-but you don't realize how necessary it was! My actions were only there to help you! _

_You were trapped, darling, you were so miserable, I had to get you out! You see that now, right? They were hindering you, Anthony! But I saved you." _The man exhaled, and after a pregnant pause, continued again, his voice less frantic and needy, more angry now, _"But you abandoned me! _

_How could you? I love you Anthony! I love you so much I spent the last thirteen grueling years of my life looking for you! Don't you appreaciate that? I need you Anthony...nobody is ever going to love you as much as I do." _The screen went blank for a moment before pictures started popping up; pictures of a young blonde boy, about ten years old, smiling at the camera with a toothy grin that was definately their DiNozzo. More and more appeared, the same boy, but younger, maybe five, seven, all were clearly taken by someone he loved, because in every photo he glowed at the cameras' direction.

_"These were all mostly before our destined meet Anthony, but I tressure them as if they were my own, don't you worry about that-" _his voice was suddenly sofy again, and just as quickly his tone switched back to a sharp drawl, _"But back to the matter at hand. That lovely family I killed served two purposes; the first was to get the attention of the best team at NCIS-if you're watching this tape right now, I succeeded. My second purpose was to show you all that I do not joke around, I have eyes on all of you. _

_I know where Ducky lives with his mother, I know where Gibbs is building his infamous boat, I know where Kates' gym is-by the way, you're a week late on your membership payment-I know where Tims' book publishing company is, I know that cute little bowling alley Abby likes to go to on Friday nights with the nuns, and Anthony, I know everything there ever was to know about you...don't you think it's about time your precious little team knew too? _

_This is my revenge, love; you can't just abandon me and not expect hell to reign down on you and all your little playmates! Expect the body count to get a lot higher, Shawn-sorry, did I say Shawn? I meant Anthony, you see, I'm still not quite used to your new name, love..." _And then the video cut off abruptly, the screen a blur of grey dots and static noise.

This is where the shit hit the fan.

A/N: Hi, sorry, I realize how short this chapter is, but yeah...hopefully the next one is longer and I actually answer some of your questions: "Who the hell is Tony?" being one of them, I'm sure. Umm, so, R&R please, would like to know what you guys think about it so far.


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR.

ABBY WAS BAFFLED.

Abby was rarely baffled; she was forensic genius extraordinaire, happy-go-lucky-Goth with what some might say one too many tattoos, and she was baffled.

Tony was her best friend-this hadn't been the case at their initial encounter, of course-but that was another story, for another day. He went bowling with her and the nuns, he went shopping with her on the weekends, they had movie nights at her house whenever work wasn't a hindrance, he'd even slept over a bunch of times, they had lunch together with Ducky all the time, this did not make sense. She was so comfortable around him, she could and had shared many of her secrets with him, he was like a siamese twin to her!

So, how was it that she'd never realized how little she really knew about Anthony DiNozzo? She'd been pondering this for the last half hour, as she stood by the water cooler in the break room when an exhausted looking Kate walked in for a granola bar.

"Gibbs is with him in the interogation room."

Abby sniffed, "He's not a criminal Kate, you know that, Gibbs knows that!"

Kate sighed, "Abby, even if he's not a criminal, he's our lead right now in this case; we just have to wait for U.S Marshals to get here." As soon as Gibbs had questioned Tony about the things said on that video, he'd told him in a very subdued manner that they'd have to call in the U.S Marshals before he could legally say anything, to everyones' complete shock.

"What do you think the Marshals hafta' do with our boy?" Abby asked, hands clutching the small plastic cup of water.

"There could be a million different reasons; U.S Marshals generally deal with a lot of departments, so it'd be hard to narrow it down." Kate replied hesitantly.

Abby narrowed her eyes "But you have, haven't you? Spill."

"Abby, it's just a hunch, really, it's such a low possibi-"

"Kate! I don't care how bad it is, I have to know." she interrupted, face dead serious.

Kate grimaced, bitting her lip, "The only thing Gibbs has been able to get out of Tony so far is that the U.S Marshals are from the Federal Witness Protection Program." There, she'd said it, and the world had yet to implode. But she felt like she just might. She was a trained agent who specialized specifically in profiling. How had she been so easily fooled? How had she missed it? There had to have been signs, surely.

"Well...that could mean a lot of things, right? Like maybe he-"

"No! No it can't, Abby! What it means is that he isn't who he says he is and he's been lying to us all along!" Kate exploded, anger surging through her. Tony was her friend! She couldn't keep track of the times he'd made her smile or laugh or-how could he have lied to her all this time?

Abby teared up almost instantly, shaking her head. "N-no, don't say that!" she yelled right back, "It doesn't matter who he was in the past! If he had to lie I just know there's a good reason!"

"What if he was some two-bit criminal who gave up his partner for a deal with WitSec, Abbs? Did it ever cross your mind that if he'd been one of the good guys in this ordeal he'd have said something to at least one of us in the five years he's worked with us? Jesus, Abby, get your head out of the clouds!"

The levi broke and Abby started to cry, dropping the cup to the floor black mascara running down her face, and it hit Kate like a ton of bricks. "Oh God, Abby, honey, I'm so sorry, I didn't-I'm just..." she hugged the Goth close to her, despite the height gap, and soothed her, "It's just, why didn't he tell us?

We're his friends Abby, I, I don't know, I guess I'd kind of conjured up this weird thing where we're all a big family, ya' know? And, after those three weeks when he left, I realized he holds us all together, like glue. He's always there for us, and I thought if he was ever feeling down or just wanted to talk, he'd say something to one of us at least! I can't remember the last time I had a problem and _didn't _go running to Tony, honestly.

He's always such a pest in the public eye, but you can always count on him for anything, Abbs. And now...why didn't I realize how little I knew about his past? He has no pictures in his apartment of any family, he never had one fond memory to share about his past, and everything else he did share just seemed...kind of rehearsed...I'm so lost Abby. I'm sorry I yelled at you." she apologized profusely.

"Oh Kate." Abby hugged her back, wiping the tears on her face, "I know exactly how you feel. But we have to give him the benefit of doubt. I just know he has a legit excuse for all of this!" she said, all the conviction of the world in her voice.

Kate nodded, "You're right Abbs." she only wished she felt as confident as Abby.

Meanwhile, McGee stood at the other side of the two-way mirror, lines of stress on his forehead. So many questions had bombarded him at once. Who was Tony? What on earth had happened thirteen years ago? Who was this creepy stalker killer? Was "Shawn" Tonys' real name? And really, what was in a name?

Tony was still Tony; his mentor, his daily tormentor, the only man he'd ever seen go several rounds in a ring with Gibbs, the man who'd brought him beer and pizza and comfort the night he'd been so distraught with guilt over thinking he'd shot a man to death, the man who would bitch and moan over a papercut for an hour in the office but had risked his life for he and Kate after coming back to work after being sick with the bubonic plague, and had outrun a bomb. Had he not been there that day, Tim knew he and Kate would have been goners. Come to think of it, had he ever stopped to thank Tony? A pang of guilt resonated inside McGee.

And suddenly, the questions stopped. Because Tony was his friend and had saved his life on more occasions than he'd ever even thought to count, so if some crazy killer stalker was out for revenge on Tony, the S.O.B would have to get through him first-after that, nothing else seemed to matter.

In the room, Tony sat opposite his superior, face stoic.

"Any other surprises you'd like to spring up on us DiNozzo. My bad, that's not your real name either, is it?" Gibbs ridiculed, eyes watching him like a hawk scrutenizing it's prey.

Tony had only ever seen that look aimed at the sick bastards they caught on a daily basis, and to see it directed at him now made his stomach drop. "It's not." He responded honestly, eyes looking anywhere but at Gibbs. This wasn't how he'd wanted everything to come out. They deserved better; especially Gibbs.

"What is it then?" Gibbs demanded coldly.

Tony really wasn't allow to reveal anything, at least not without the Marshals approval, but, he thought, he owed the man at least that much; his real name. "Shawn Gorban." He turned away from his Boss' dissapointed look and muttered a soft, "M'sorry Gibbs."

"You're sorry?" Gibbs faked astonishment. "Well, that makes up for everything then, doesn't it?" He got up and paced the room, "Damnit Tony!" He shook his head, "Shawn..." he practically spit the word out like venom.

"You don't have to call me that. I haven't been Shawn in almost nine years."

"Nine years? I thought it was thirteen?" Gibbs turned his head sharply.

Tony shook his head, "No, I didn't go into Witness Protection until I was twenty one."

"Then why is it our perp couldn't find you for those four years in between the time you went into Witness Protection?"

"I...moved. I wasn't even aware I had a stalker." Tony mummbled, looking dejected.

"You were seventeen, where the hell did you go?" Gibbs asked. "Did you actually even attend Ohio State?" Gibbs inquired.

"No, I didn't. And, it was complicated Gibbs, I couldn't tell you-"

"Couldn't tell me what? That you're not who you said you were? That all the stories were lies? Did your father even die-"

"Shut _up_!" Gibbs stepped back, shocked at the sudden outburst. Tony had _never _spoken to him like that-hell, he couldn't remember Tony ever talking to _anyone _that way. Tony sat back down, looked away, trying to cover the blalant hurt that showed on his face.

"He did...die. My real Dad, I mean." he said softly. "DiNozzo Senior, that's all made-up, it's why my story was fabricated in such a way that people would think I'd been neglected as a child-who's mother died, and who had an alcoholic father who could have cared less about me, so that no one would ever get suspicious if I never saw him or he wasn't on my list of calls if anything ever happened to me..." He explained, knowing he was already saying too much, more than he'd intended. He'd have to tell him eventually though, and saw no point in delaying the inevitable.

Through the two-way mirror, Kate, Abby and Ducky, who'd joined McGee, were listening into the heated conversation between their two leaders. Ducky had been shocked, to say the least, when a devastated Abigail had made him listen to the video, and then gone on to ramble about WitSec and Tony not being Tony and something about Shawn not suiting him nearly as well.

Ducky was at a loss really, not knowing how to feel at the moment. All the logic in his brain told him that it was only reasonable Tony hadn't told them a thing about his past-it was the Witness Protection Program, after all, they had their own mandated set of rules. Another part of him thought 'But what would have been the harm in it really? We're his family.' And then there was the shocked part of him that couldn't believe what was happening; he couldn't have, in all his wisdom, in a million years predicted this.

Regardless, Ducky couldn't be angry at the boy. How could you be angry at the person you went to see the latest Hemingway plays with, at the theatre every Sunday night (Anthony had forbidden him to tell anyone at the office about his love of the theatrics for fear of being made fun of)? How could you possibly be mad at the person who'd go down to Autopsy in the early mornings with a cup of your favorite Earl grey tea and a danish or some other pastry you enjoyed, asking with sincere curiousity to hear the rest of that story you'd been cut off from telling at the crime scene yesterday? How could you be upset with the person who'd taken care of your ill elderly mother and her two dogs countless times in the past?

He simply could not find it in himself to be angry.

Gibbs scoffed, "You're damn right about that; fabricated story, huh? That's what all this has been, hasn't it?"

Tony grimaced, "I didn't want it to be Gibbs, and I really didn't want you guys to find out this way."

"So you're saying you would've told us eventually then?" Gibbs shook his head, "What a joke. Was any of this real? Ever?" he questioned, with such intensity it made Tony hold his breath a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"You were asked to play the part of the spoiled only child of DiNozzo Senior; a jock with a Phys-Ed degree in Ohio State University, Tony. But there were so many times when I saw so much more than that in you. You're smarter than what meets the eye, but you play it down because Anthony DiNozzos' character isn't supposed to be a braniac. God Tony, you fooled everyone! To think I fell in l-" Gibbs stopped himself immediately, freezing in place, no longer pacing the room back and forth.

Outside the interogation room, Ducky wondered if it was wrong of him in their current situation to cheer on his old friend. He'd been telling him to confess to Tony for a year now.

Tony blinked. Things had happened too quickly. His hearing had to be off. "What?"

Gibbs looked away. Anywhere but at Tony.

Tony stood slowly. "All of it was a facade. The whole thing was fake-I'm not Anthony DiNozzo. I never went to Ohio State or even to Road Island Academy. My father wasn't a rich drunk and my mother didn't die when I was eight. I don't have a degree in Phys-Ed. And you're right, I'm a lot smarter than I look.

But what was real all these years is how I feel about the team. Abby's my best friend-I don't know what I'd do without her, it's the nicest feeling in the world to know you've got someone like Abbs to have your back. Kate's like a sister to me, she's acts so tough and stubborn, but at the end of the day, when all's said and done, she'll just sit down next to me and wait for me to put my arm around her so that she can lay her head on my shoulder and tell me everything that's bothering her and the next day we can fight over who takes the front seat of the van like it's nothing.

McGee-I adopted the kid from day one-he looked so helpless, but he had so much potential, and now look at him, couldn't make me prouder if he tried. God only knows he'll be running NCIS one of these days. Ducky, I can always count on to be there-if you ever stopped to listen, I think you'd get a real kick out of his stories, Gibbs." Tony fiddled with the lace of his sweater.

All easedroppers in the room opposite theirs were practically tearing at this point. Kate couldn't have described their relationship better. God, what a twisted family they'd turned out to be. Abby could not have cared any less about what he'd done in the past at that moment; he was theirs now, and she'd make sure Gibbs got his head out of his ass long enough to realize that.

"Gibbs, all of that was-is real." Tony continued, drawing in a shaky breath. "And...what I feel for you Gibbs, that's the most real thing I've felt in over a decade." he declared, leaving everyone speachless.

A/N: R&R? Would like to know what you guys think so far :o


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Just to clarify some things, my timeline is WAY off. So let's get AU with the whole thing and say Tony's thirty for the sake of the story? (otherwise I'm going to have to go back and change all the years and ages and...it's complicated; but thanks to the girl who pointed out that Tony's actually thirty-two!) But yeah, on to the story now. Hope you guys enjoy it?

FIVE.

IT'S FUNNY HOW in just the wrong moment people choose to show up, Abby thought, as she glared at the two Marshals.

"U.S Marshal Jane Lynn, this is my partner Marshal Isak Reid; Anthony DiNozzo is under no obligation to answer your questions Special Agent Gibbs." A woman in her early forties with a strong jaw and dark blonde hair tied back into a bun, with a steely voice and a glare to match Gibbs' stormed into the interragation room. Behind her, a man who smiled at a distressed Anthony upon entrance, looked to be in his late thirties with a strong build, taller than Tony even.

Gibbs, still too startled by his confession, took a minute before going into 'Bastard Mode'. "The hell he doesn't, Marshal Lynn." he rounded on her. "He is _my _second in command and there is a sicko out there looking for him and my team right now so I better damn well get some answers!"

Marshal Lynn ground her heels in just as deep, "Anthony DiNozzo is under the Federal Witness Protection Program and-"

"Jane," Tony cut her off gently, "They have to know." he grit his teeth, "There's a tape in evidence right now, and the mans' voice-I have to know who that man is-he was the one who caused the fire thirteen years ago, he confessed it, Jane! All these years I wondered if it was my fault, if I could've prevented it, maybe it was a leak and I could have fixed it, but now I know it was this sick son of a bitch who caused it and I need him to pay for what he did!" Tony banged his fists on the metal table, anger radiating off him.

"Shawn-"

"Tony..." He corrected.

She nodded, "Tony, we have to see the tape ourselves before we can decipher whether or not this man is a threat and figure out how much to reveal."

Gibbs brushed past the Marshals. "Follow me to the bullpen." He grunted as he exited the small interrogation room, Marshals, Tony and the rest of the team, including Ducky and Abby on his heels.

After watching the disturbing tape, Marshal Lynn cursed under her breath. "How the hell did he get those pictures? All of that was either shredded to protect your identity or burned in the fire."

Gibbs cut in. "The man is a clear threat to all of our safeties; now I would like to kn-"

All of the televisions screens in the bullpens suddenly flickered on with a loud 'pop' that caught everyones' attention and a familiar voice came on the dark screen.

_"Technology really has gone a long way, hasn't it? Now, I'd like to share some home videos I've taken of my darling Shawn over the years with everyone." _

The screen flickered again and on came an video recording of the same ten year old boy they'd seen in those photographs.

He was sitting on the front lawn of a nice suburbian two-story home; it didn't look as if he was aware that anyone was video taping him.

_"Shawnie!" A frail looking woman with long golden locks of hair called out from the front porch. "Baby, Alie needs you!" _

_The boy in question smiled and got up, "Coming Mama!" _

The camera zoomed in, and the person recording seemed to get closer and closer to the happy home.

Looking at the boys' mother up close, it was quite obvious she was ill. Her skin was deathly pale, bags under her eyes, and the way she moved seemed rather pained, although she was trying hard not to show it around her children.

_"I'm sorry Baby, I'd change her diaper, but the kemo makes Mommys' hands shaky and I don't want to hurt Alie." She looked genuinely sorry, as she sat herself gingerly on the rocking chair beside the changing table, where Shawn changed his little sister into a clean pair of diapers. _

_She was merely an infant-a very giggly little girl with bright blue eyes, like her mothers'. "It's okay Mama, I like helping; you just focus on getting better." the ten year-old chided, sounding all of his mothers' thirty-four years._

_The blonde woman smiled a little brokenly, "I will Baby." _

_Two younger children, a toddler, probably three, and a young boy, possibly six or seven, ran into the room. _

_The seven year-old crawled onto his mothers' lap and clung to her robe in contentment, the woman coddled her child, speaking to him through sign-language. _

Gibbs and Abby started as they realized the child was deaf. Had Tony been able to read and even sign all along? They were now a hundred percent sure that little blonde boy in the tape was their Tony.

_The three year-old waddled over to his older brother, Shawn, babbling excitedly. "Sha', I drawed a pitcher' and I hunged it up on the fridge-ader like you taught me!" he announced, looking extremely proud of himself. _

_The ten year-old grinned, ruffling the younger boys hair, "That's great, Matt, lemme' finish up with Alie here and we'll go see it together." he assured the toddler, who perked up and ran over to his mother to tell her about his picture as well. _

_Shawn put his baby sister in the crib when he was done, "Mama, I'm going to get started on dinner." he said, Matt taking his hand in both of his, and dragging him into the kitchen, so that he could see his work of art._

The cameraman moved closer to the house, next to a window in the kitchen, and zoomed in again, watching the ten year-old boil the water on the stove.

_'Simon, did you do your homework?' Shawn signed expertly to the seven year-old, when he came into the kitchen to see what his two brothers were up to half an hour later. 'It's Sunday you know; got school tomorrow.' _

_Simon nodded, signing back 'Duh.' with a cheeky grin, as he pushed up his glasses. 'What's for dinner?' he asked, taking in the aroma. _

_'Spaghetti and meatballs with a side of garlic bread.' he replied. _

_Matt pulled on Simons' shirt sleeve, "Sha', do that thing with your hands and tell Simon I helped!" he begged, little lamb-eyes and pouty lip in place. _

_Shawn snickered 'Matt wants you to know he helped.' he obligingly told his brother._

There were bold subtitles anytime somebody signed, a clear indication this psycho had done his research. Abby and Gibbs didn't need the subs, but Duck, Kate, McGee, and the two Marshals appreciated them, following the conversation with morbid curiousity.

A door slammed shut somewhere in the house and the psycho got panicky, nearly dropping the camera in the process of better hiding, after a few awkward seconds of fiddling with the camera, he adjusted his grip again.

_A man with light blonde hair, in a cheap suit, in his mid-thirties, walked into the kitchen, where Shawn was setting up the plates on the table, Simon helping him. Matt was the first to run up to the tall man, screaming "Daddy!" with glee. _

_"Look at my big boy!" the man swept his youngest boy up in the air and hugged him tight. "You behave today for Mommy and Shawnie?" he asked, giving him eskimo kisses. _

_Matt nodded vigorously. "Mhmm! I even helped Sha' make dinner!" the three year-old gloated. _

_"That's awesome, buddy." he went to hug his son Simon, who greeted him with open arms, and Shawn, who's strawberry blonde hair was matted to his forehead after being in the kitchen all afternoon. _

_"Where's your brother?" he spoke, while signing simultaneously to keep Simon in the loop. _

_Shawn shrugged, "He left a little before I started making dinner; Jack said 'Don't wait up' and walked out the door." the ten year-old was clearly lost as to the reason why his oldest brother had run off and where to. _

_The man tried not to show his anger in front of his kids, and simply shook his head, "I'm going upstairs to get your Mom and sister, you boys start eating." _

The screen went blank for a moment, and then it flickered a couple of times. Then there was colour again; a camera, that had clearly been hidden in the upstairs bedroom somewhere on the ceiling, according to the angle the tape was being shot from, capturing the scene.

_The man walked into the bedroom, smiling softly at the sight of his wife and child on their King-sized bed. "Hey Sweetheart." _

_The woman, cradling her only daughter to her chest, looked up at her husband with nothing but love in her eyes, "Hey there yourself." she greeted, "Come here often?" _

_He laughed, kicked off his shoes and crawled into bed with her, holding her close to him, so that her head lay on his chest and his chin rested atop hers; he kissed the crown of her head. "Dinners' ready; think you can make it downstairs?" he asked, rubbing one hand up and down her arm. _

_She smiled in a strained manner. "Not today John-feet haven't felt this numb in years." _

_"We'll go to the Doctor tomorrow when the kids are at school, ask him to change the medication dose, alright?" John assured his wife, feeling her nod under him, "You know where Jack went off to?" he asked. _

_"Should be across the street at his best friend Sams'." _

_John shook his head, "He'd been out every night this week, Lola, and he never comes home before dinner, he's been acting out in school, picking on his brothers more than usual, I don't know what's wrong with-"_

_"Honey, he's thirteen; he's going through that awkward adolescant stage where everything 'sucks' and we, as his family, are 'lame'." she explained with a small grin. _

_"This is why I love you; what would I ever do without your Godly wisdom, Mistress?" John nuzzled her and pecked her cheeks and forehead and lips with tiny chaste kisses, their daughter Alie a bundle of giggles in between them. _

The camera flicked off all of a sudden, and on came a dark screen with the same shadowed figure in the background. _"You remember that day, Shawn? I'd met you at a park near your house a few weeks before I took that video, love. I'd never seen a lovelier child than you, and I was right to follow your family home a week later after seeing you a second time in that park. When you were all gone, I broke into your home and set up these tiny cameras' in all the bedrooms. None of you were ever the wiser. _

_You were such a sweetheart Shawn. You took care of everything and everyone after Mommy was diagnosed with terminal cancer, didn't you? Your oldest brother Jack was never home, your mother was too sick to get out of bed, had to quit her job, so your father was rarely home before dinner, always working extra shifts to pay off all the bills now that your mother was useless. _

_So you were left to take care of a dying mother, an infant sister, a deaf brother, and a toddler. You were only ten but you didn't look like any of it bothered you at all! I couldn't understand it. I was fascinated by your familys' dynamics, Shawn. I watched you every day, from morning to night. _

_You'd keep Matt preoccupied with games, make sure Alie had eaten properly, remind your mother to take her medications, help Simon with his homework, try to get Jack to stay home for once so that your father wouldn't have to come home and worry and wonder about his where abouts. _

_I would watch you wake up at six every morning, prepare coffee for your father, take out your mothers meds from the bathroom cabinet, make sandwhiches for the kids lunches at school, prepare a couple of bottles for your sister, pack her and Matts' bags for daycare. You'd turn on the stove, and oh how I worried you might burn your little fingers! I was always close by, just in case." _he swore, taking a deep breath before continuing.

_"You'd make breakfast for five; then for Alie, you'd mash up baby-food and feed it to her-she'd make such a mess! Your mother would never eat in the mornings, far too nauseous, she'd claim, but you'd make oatmeal for her anyway, knowing that by the time you got back from school the plate would still be there, untouched. _

_I don't know why the fuck you bothered-" He paused, "Please excuse my language. You see, I love you so much, and having to see you like this day in and day out, it killed me! You were a baby Shawn-there were so many times I just wanted to go in there and take you away from those people! I was too afraid to ever approach you, though, love. And is this what I get for my courtiousness? You leave me?_

_I handled so much for you over the years Shawn. I was good Shawn. I was patient Shawn! I've documented your life from the moment I met you; but you...you didn't appreciate my efforts at all!" _he made a sound of disgust before all the television sets in the police buildings went into a static frenzy and shut off.

Before anyone could say a word, Tony stormed off, bumping into a couple of uniformed officers in the process.

McGee was the first to get up and follow his friend.

Standing in front of the mens' restroom, though, Tim realized he had no idea what to say. He'd just found out not only that Tony wasn't really technically Tony, but that he had a family! A big family, with lots of siblings! A mother with cancer for Christ sake! What did you really say to that? Not to mention he'd been stalked since the age of ten...that had to be hitting him pretty damn hard.

What was there to really say? He'd followed him with the intention to offer some comfort, maybe someone to talk to, but McGee had always been ridiculously awkward in regular social situations, how was he supposed to react in one that was anything _but _normal? McGee shook his head; Tony had always been there for him, even when words failed him, he was always there! It was his turn, Tim decided with finality, opening the door, and closing it softly behind him so as not to startle his friend.

He'd expected to see at least one shattered mirror and maybe even a broken stall door or two. He'd been expecting him to get angry and he'd been expecting him to tell him to get the hell out of his face as soon as he'd walked into the restroom. And he couldn't have been more wrong.

Nothing was broken or shattered of destroyed. In fact, at first glace, the place seemed almost unoccupied. Noticing one of the stalls wasn't empty-if the fact that someone was sitting on the bathroom floor, feet sticking out from the stall, was any indication-Tim knocked on said stall. "Tony? Tony, you wanna' talk?"

No response.

Hearing something vague and foreign to his ears, McGee pressed the side of his face against the stall door, and realized with a jolt that it Tony he heard. Tony was crying. Not outright sobbing, but he could hear the hitched breath, the sniffling, and he wanted to leave right then and there and call for Abby or Gibbs or Kate; they would all know how to handle a crying Tony much better than he.

_'No! He's your friend! He's always got your back! You can do this!'_ Tim knocked again. "Tony, open the door. Please."

Still no answer, not even a bugde.

Tim had never been a quiter, certainly wouldn't start now. Crouching down, knees and hands on the bathroom floor, he slid under the stall next to Tonys', glad for once his build was less excessive than Gibbs or Tonys', he definately never would have made it in between the two stalls, otherwise. Peeking his head out from underneath his stall to Tonys', he crawled the rest of the way into the now-cramped bathroom stall Tony occupied.

If he'd noticed at all that Tim was now in there with him, he didn't show it, he was huddled into himself, his knees up against his chest, face burried in his arms, hands gripping at the fabric of his jeans.

Tim bent down slowly, "Tony..." Just as he'd thought; he had no clue what to say. Crouched down on the heels of his feet in front of Tony, his back against the bathroom stall divider, and he didn't know what to say and Tony still wasn't looking at him or acknowlegding his presence and if someone came into the bathroom only to see two people sitting in one stall-what would be the reprecautions of that? he wondered.

Knowing words were useless in this situation, Tim went on pure instict, leant forward and hugged Tony to his chest. Now on his knees, arms wrapped tightly around Tonys' frame, his chin resting atop his head gently, as if he were the most frail thing in the world, he moved his hand up and down Tonys' back, in what he hoped was a soothing motion. He didn't say anything, he didn't shush him, or tell him it was okay, because clearly, it was not. He was simply there; he found himself rocking them both back and forth in a lulling motion and eventually felt Tonys arms losen from around his knees and clutch at McGees' shirt instead, needy and trembling.

Tim didn't know how long they'd been in the mens restroom stall, embracing, except that his legs were prickly and numb and the front of his shirt was wet with tears but he knew he didn't care, so long as he was there for Tony.

Miles away, a stranger in black watched the security camera feed he'd installed in the restrooms of the local police station, with what one would deem as more than mild distaste. "You cheating whore!" He screamed, angrily swiping the objects splayed on his work desk, "Not again! You're _mine _Shawn! _Mine_!"

From the other room, a tall dark woman walked in to find the mess he'd made. "_Ours_, Henry; remember our deal." she chided in a patronizing voice. "Don't worry, he'll pay for all the pain he's caused you and I. What Shawn did to _Him_ was unforgivable." she growled, setting her jaw.

A/N: I would like your opinions on this chapter! Expect more to come soon! Hopefully I can redeem Kate and Gibbs in the next chapter! R&R please! :) Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm not going to lie, this was SO hard to write; frankly, I'm still "bleh" about this chapter-my muse just didn't wanna' cooperate with me at all...You've no idea how many times I had like three pages of this chapter written, reread the whole thing, deleted everything, and started over -_-

But thanks to everyone who reviewed (they were all wonderful and made me go :D), keeps me going. :) Well, enjoy.

SIX.

"SHAWN, I LOVE YOU."

Stunned, Shawn turned away, speechless. "That's not funny." he muttered into his shirt sleeve.

Nero smiled at the younger man, "I love you, Shawn. I really do. Why is that so hard for you to believe?" without another word, he embraced the blonde, pulled him back for a second, and started to kiss him, first in a chaste manner, and then slowly building, more passionate.

Shawn melted into his lovers' kisses, his breath, his chest so close to his, he could hear his heart beating, and he loved every second of it. He loved _him_. And he wanted to tell him, even if it broke the heat of the moment-he had to.

Pulling away, breathing hard, heart beating a mile a minute, he opened his mouth, said the words, "I love you Gibbs..." What?

"Tony." That wasn't right. Nero. Not Gibbs. Shawn. Not Tony.

"C'mon Tony."

Tony woke with a start.

Gibbs was beside him on a chair and this room was very familiar, he thought, until he realized it was Gibbs' guestroom and he was in his house; now how the hell had that happened?

Reading his mind, Jethro handed him a glass of water before saying, "You passed out in the mens bathroom. McGee called us and Duck said it was due in part to a combination of stress, exhaustion, oh and, that huge bruise you might've forgotten to mention, DiNozzo-you've got two broken ribs, and according to Duck, you've also recently gotten a dislocated shoulder, which either you or someone manually set back in place." Gibbs got up, hovering over his agent, "So I'd like to know now where and how in the hell you got all these injuries."

Gibbs was mad...again, and Tony cringed. He had a right to, feeling so out of the loop with his own second in command and all, but if he told him yet another truth in one day, he was sure Gibbs would toss him out on the curb, fractured ribs or not, right then and there.

"Boss, can this all just wait? It's been a damn long day, everything's so complicated-"

"No, Tony, it's not! You hiding everything is making shit complicated!" Gibbs yelled.

"I had to, Gibbs, don't you fucking get that? I _had _to!" Tony retorted, throwing back the covers and sitting up now, so that he was at least semi-eye-to-eye with Jethro.

"But you don't anymore, Tony! And you're still keeping things from all of us! Those bruises didn't happen thirteen years ago, did it? It was recent, and I need to know!"

"You don't need to know anything, none of this, none of what happened thirteen years ago, none of what goes on in my life is any of your Goddamn business! Just leave me alone!" Tony exploded, chest heaving, face pained as his ribs protested.

Gibbs face went stoic, his voice soft, "That's where you're wrong, Tony. Every aspect of you, your life, your past, your present, what you plan to do in the future, all of that is important to me; not because you are my senior field agent and not because you are a part of my team, but because you are my friend, Tony. I care about you more than I would've ever dared to admit.

You come into all our lives, and you're obscure and you rarely show glimpses of your true self but you worm yourself into all our hearts anyway, and you make me wonder why that is, and I want to know more and more about you and as I wonder why, I find myself thinking more about you every day, and I think 'Why do I care?' And the reason is so simple it took me three years to figure it out.

I love you Tony. You made me fall in love with you and all I've ever wanted to do was just be there for you, I need you to know that no matter how bad anything is, you can tell me, spill your guts out to me, cry on my shoulder, rest in my arms when you're so tired and you've just had about enough of everything, trust me to be there, Tony. And that's the thing that got me.

After all this time, you still don't even trust me enough to tell me about a few broken ribs, DiNozzo. I understand about all the WitSec business; but, I thought you knew by now: I will always have your six, Tony. Always." with those parting words, Jethro left the room, closing the door with a ring of finality behind him.

Tony sat on the bed for a few minutes, Jethros' words replaying over and over in his mind. He hadn't thought it'd be possible to have one great love in your life, but to have found two? This was the same feeling he'd had with Nero all those years ago, but at the same time it was so different. Because Nero and Jethro-while both sporting eccentric names-were as opposite as day and night. The only thing they'd had in common was falling in love with someone like him.

Tony sprinted through the narrow hallway, past two doors, down the stairs, past the living room, the basement door, and down another flight of wooden stairs, only to realize once he was there, Gibbs back to him as he sanded his boat, that he wasn't sure of what to say or do or even if Gibbs would acknowlegde him.

"Boss-"

"You need to be in bed." he interrupted.

"I'm not that kind of girl Gibbs; we haven't even been on a date yet." Tony quipped, for lack of much to say at the moment.

"I normally don't do 'blind dates', like to know who I'm going out with." Jethro replied without missing a beat.

Alright, ouch, because that hurt. A lot more than Tony was willing to admit. It'd been a while since someone had had the ability to do so much with such little words to affect him.

"Gibbs, I'm in love with you, and you're in love with me. You can't fall in love with someone you don't know-" he paused, "I mean, you can, because statistacally 96.7% of the American population are obsessed with people they've never even met before-" he ammended, "But, you don't do that, you're Gibbs. And you know me, and...I want us to get to know each other better. I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you'll sit and listen. I'm still terrified Gibbs, but I would much rather try and lose you than not try at all. Please Gibbs."

He stopped sanding, turned around. "Go to bed, Tony."

"But Gibbs-"

Gibbs walked over to his senior field agent, put his hand on the small of his back and lead him up the stairs. "It's almost one in the morning, you look dead on your feet, Duck said you needed rest." he recited, leading him down the hall.

"Gibbs, please, I-" he was interrupted when Jethro planted a soft almost breath-taking kiss on his lips, put him to bed, and laid down next to him, putting one arm loosely and gently-aware of his broken ribs-around Tonys' waist, pulling him close to his own body, feeling his heat.

"Sleep DiNozzo, now." Gibbs kissed him again, this time on the forehead, and Tony easily complied, resting his head in the crook of Gibbs neck, feeling more safe than he had for the first time in a very long time.

"Love you Boss." he muttered as he was at the brink of sleep, hearing a vague 'I love you too, DiNozzo." as he finally fell into a deep sedated-like slumber.

A/N: -_- It's too short for my liking, but I've been so busy the last couple of days and yadayadayada; nonetheless, I hope you guys like and review? Would be really helpful to know what you guys think so far! Thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: All those awesome reviews got me pumped, and so here is a gift to all of you who have read and reviewed my story. Longer chapter to compensate for the last few minni ones. :D And can I just say? I totally could've left this at a cliffhanger suspense kind of thing at like, at least three different paragraphs near the end there, but I figured that was a little mean and you'd all like to know what happened to-well, anyway, I'm giving too much away. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

SEVEN.

IT HAD BEEN ONE of the most degrading things he'd done in his life, and Tony hated even thinking about it, much less having to explain to people why he'd done it in the first place; the excuses just didn't seem like they were ever enough to justify it.

Even Marshals Lynn and Reid were none the wiser to a lot of his past...or present. _Jesus Christ, _DiNozzo thought,_ I really have fucked my life up pretty good, haven't I? Keeping secrets from WitSec and my team? I have to fix this. _

If that sick son of a bitch had photos and video footage worth seven years of his life, then he was damned if he'd let his team find out _that _from an outside source. All the cards were on the table, it was up to him to reveal the rest now.

In a conference room, the two Marshals sat opposite Gibbs and Tony, Abby and Ducky at one end of the table, McGee and Kate at the other, all waiting patiently for Tony and the Marshals to start talking.

U.S Marshal Jane Lynn began, "This is closed information I am handing out right now," she said, as Marshal Isak Reid handed the team, sans Tony, a dark folder each. "Not a word of this reaches the outside public, do I make myself clear?" She waited for all five of them to nod before continuing. "Tony was the prime witness to the shooting and death of Maria Lorenzo' nine years ago-"

Abby gaped, "I read about that; that was in New York, it was in all the papers and the news! Like, not about the witness, but about the womans' death, that it was connected to the mafia 'cause her husband couldn't pay off a loan? Am I right?"

Isak Reid nodded, "Hit the nail on the head, Miss Scutio. But that's the short version. What didn't make it to the papers was that Marias' son Esteban, aged six at the time, was there at the shooting that night." he grimaced at the thought of the poor boy having watched his mother die. "Tony wasn't just a witness that night; he saved the boys' life. Took out two of the three armed men. With Esteban and Tonys' combined testimonies they were able to build a case against the crime-lord running the mafia and throw his entire house of cards down." he surmised consicely.

Kate had to admit she was impressed. Two out of three armed men? Yeah, definately impressive. "How'd you do it?" she had to ask.

Tony shrugged, "It's all a blur. I'm just happy I took those hand to hand combat classes." he replied vaguely.

"So that's how you got into the Witness Protection Program?" McGee asked. "I mean, 'cause, the psycho said he'd lost track of you thirteen years ago, but the Marshals just said it was only nine years ago that you went into the program, so I'm just wondering how you managed to lose the guy in the first place is all...and how he found you again after all this time." Now that had been a mouthfull, but they couldn't lose track of the fact that there was still some raving lunatic out there after him-possibly all of them.

"It's a long story." he muttered. "I wasn't even aware of the mans' existance until just yesterday. It's not like I deliberately ran from him in specific." Tony explained meekly.

Abby got up and moved her chair closer to his, and took hold of his hand once she sat down, noticing, but not revealing it outloud, that Gibbs, who sat at the other side of Tony was rubbing smooth circles on Tonys' knee with his index finger underneath the table, which was probably the only thing keeping him seated and relatively calm right now. "We're listening Tony. Where'd you go those three years in between?" she inquired softly.

He smiled shakily up at his team, took a deep breath, and began. "After, umm," he swallowed hard, "After the fire..." he paused, realizing they knew nothing about it really, not even the Marshals knew the whole story. Everything had still been too fresh in his mind back then. It still was, if Tony was honest with himself.

"I think I should start from the begining." he looked down, not wanting to see his surrogate familys' reactions when he told them everything.

Gibbs nudged him gently, "Take your time, Tony, breath." he instructed.

Tony nodded gratefully, "We were your typical suburbian family, white picket fence and everything, ya' know? I had the most amazing parents, Lola and John-everybody always said they were the most enviable couple, 'cause even after five kids and a mortgage to pay, anybody who saw them could tell they were so obviously in love with eachother." he described them fondly, with a smile.

"Then there were my four siblings. Three brothers and a sister. I was the second oldest. There was Jack, my older brother, he was nearly four years older, Simon-he was born deaf due to some complications at birth, he was three years my junior. My little brother Matthew, we called him Matt, he was seven years younger than me. And our baby was Alie, she was almost ten years younger." he breathed. "Umm, when I was nine my Mom, Lola, almost right after giving birth to Alie, she was diagnosed with cancer.

It was hard at first, Dad got really depressed, Jack had just turned thirteen, and he got really angry, tried to stay as far away from the family as possible. With the new baby in the house crying at nights, Mom in the hospital for the first few weeks of kemo and stabalizing everything, it was tough. Simon wasn't sure of much, just thought Mom was sick with a virus or something, Matt was only two, he had no idea what was going on, except that Mom wasn't home, and he missed her. We all missed her.

Dad still had to work; I hate to say it, but the depression had gotten to him, and he'd kind of forgotten that he still had children who needed him, for a while, at first. He was barely home, if not at work than at the hospital. I learned to change diapers in the span of those three weeks, and use the stove, and the washing machine and dryer. I used to make simple stuff at first, like mac and cheese-and that's what we'd eat for three nights in a row. Cereal with milk for breakfast everyday. Sandwhiches for lunch, etcetera.

The toughest part of those three weeks was taking care of Alie; she was still a newborn and she cried for everything. If she was hungry, wet, bored, tired, and sometimes when she cried it was for no reason at all, it was really frustrating. I ended up going to the library and reading a lot of baby books during that time. Eventually Mom was able to come back home, Dad didn't look sad all the time anymore, he was home a little more often than he had been, Jack was still MIA most of the time, though. Mom was weak all the time, or sick from the kemo, but she never once let us see her cry, she was always smiling around us, and I love her for that.

So things went on that way for about three years. It was a struggle but we'd managed until then, ya' know? I was thirteen when she died. And then...that's when it all kind of fell apart." Tony paused then, still not looking anywhere but at the table in front of him. It was oak and probably from Ikea, he thought, he liked Ikea furniture.

Gibbs took Tony by the arm, said "We'll be out in the hall; taking five." as he lead him out of the room.

No one complained.

Gibbs took Tony outside of the Local Police Department, hoping some fresh air would help. He sat him down on the legde of a water fountain, in a reclusive area, wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled Tony against him, so that his head was leaning on Gibbs shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, sedentary and silent.

"She would've liked you." Tony said quietly.

Gibbs couldn't help but feel warmth in his chest at the sentiment.

"I won't fucking tolerate this anymore, Shawn." Henry glared at the screen. Shawn _always _did this to him! Why? Wasn't he good enough?

He grabbed the walkie talkie next to his coffee cup, "Drake, are you in position?"

_"Yes Sir. Target is in sight."_

_"Good. Shoot the older one-God so help you if you hit my Shawn."_ Henry warned in a low threatening voice over the talkie.

"Yes Sir." Drake was glad that madman couldn't afford to put cameras _everywhere_, otherwise he'd see him rolling his eyes right about now. Working for this nutjob was unbearable, but he needed the money, and the pay was damn good, so he'd do as he was told and hold his tongue for now. He aimed his sniper at the older man, and pulled the trigger.

Kate sat at the table, shocked, to say the least, by what she'd just learned about her friend. His mother's cancer and then death. Having to grow up so fast, run the house, take care of his siblings-_and he was only _nine_, when it started_, she thought, frowning. All those times she'd complained about cleaning up her room when she was a child, and Tony had practically been head of the household by the age of ten!

And then saving that boy from three men with guns-she'd read in the file that he'd only had a pocket knife on him at the time-that was incredible and valiant and well, that was Tony. He'd only been twenty-one years old, not really a kid, not really an adult, she wondered what he'd done when he'd been told he'd have to go into Witness Protection? She'd found an entirely new admiration for the man.

"What was he like back then?" Abby asked, breaking Kate out of her inner monologue.

Jane Lynn thought for a second before replying. "Sarcastic and patronizing."

"And wild, don't forget wild. Couldn't let the kid out of our sights; remember when you lost him?" Reid grinned when Jane narrowed her eyes at him with that 'Oh no you did not' look he'd grown much too accustomed to over the years of working with her.

"I did not lose him, Isak, I just...wasn't sure where he was for a few _very_ short hours..." she lied; remembering back, those had felt like the longest four hours of her life, looking for a witness she'd taken her eyes off for just a couple of minutes!

"No way, he ran off? Why?" Abby was all ears, as were Kate, McGee, and Ducky, now.

"Once we'd sat him down and told him he'd have to be relocated, he'd asked to say goodbye to someone very important to him. However," Isak grimaced as he'd remembered the cocky young mans demeanor crummble, and a crest-fallen look befall his features, "It was against protocol, so we had to tell him that would be impossible-this was the mafia, after all. We couldn't take any risks." he explained.

"But we found him four hours later, in the hospital, saying goodbye to his father in the ICU. We later learned Sh-Tonys' father was in a coma, and had been for a few years already." Jane informed the team sadly.

McGee started, "Then, Tony's dad, he died just three, almost four weeks ago, how did he know if-"

"We called and informed him over the phone." Isak replied. "It's also protocol."

"It was quite generous of you to let him see his father one last time." Ducky spoke up, the others nodding along.

Jane furrowed her brows, "We didn't authorize that at all. In fact, he shouldn't be aware of where his father was located-we relocated him from the hospital years ago, and paid for his stay all these years."

"Then, where was he those last three weeks?" McGee questioned outloud.

The room was suddenly silent. Where had he been, if not at his fathers bedside?

A uniformed officer suddenly ran into the conference room, breaking the silence, and announcing, "One of your agents has been shot outside the station! Ambulance is on it's way!"

Gibbs and Tony had been sitting outside, near the fountain, talking about their late mothers in fond memory for the past half hour.

Jethro was staring down at Tony, who was still leaning against him, when he heard Tony scream "DOWN!" and before he could react, he'd been pushed into the fountain.

Soaked now, he coughed and shook his head, "Tony, I think we need to have a talk about rule fourteen aga-" he stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that the water had turned a dark shade of red. Anthony was kneeled over him, arms at either side of Gibbs shoulders, panting hard, a large mass of his shirt covered in blood.

"Tony-" Gibbs tried getting up and checking on his companion.

"Stay down," He gritted out, in obvious agony, hovering over Gibbs prone body, in the fountain. "Whoever just shot that bullet was aiming for you, otherwise they'd already have tried to take another shot at me, I'm in plain sight." he explained, riding through waves of pain.

Gibbs felt horrible. Not only had Tony taken a bullet for him, but now he was acting as a shield in case the shooter was still out there! His hands ghosted over Tonys torso, "Tony, where were you shot?" he asked anxiously; that blue hoody would never be recovered, he already knew, the thing was drenched in blood.

"Arm...might've hit an artery." he replied tersely-holding himself up with said injured arm was taking its' toll on him, but the possibility of the sniper shooting if he moved enough for him to get a fixed aim-well, he wasn't going to take that chance.

"Would explain the blood loss." Gibbs agreed, reaching into Tonys' jean pockets, from underneath the younger mam.

Tony nearly faltered and fell on top of Jethro, but kept his balance. "I thought I told you, not until the first date."

Gibbs rolled his eyes despite their current predicament. "Your cell phone, DiNozzo, mine is wet." he said, just to have something to say and not freak out that his boy was bleeding profusely above him and he could do nothing of importance to help. In fact, he was a huge hindrance, if asked.

Tonys' phone was only mildy wet, on the screen, but still functional, he realized with relief as he dialed 9-1-1. Finishing the phone call, Gibbs noticed a uniformed officer coming towards them and yelled at him to stay back and call for backup, just in case. The rookie got it and fummbled for his radio.

In the distance, sirens could be heard. "Almost here, Tony." Gibbs reassured. Tonys' eyes were shut tight, he was breathing hard through his nose, the stain on his sweater growing. Jethro wanted so badly to move out from beneath him, but one of two things would happen then: Either the shooter was an ace marksman and would easily shoot him bullseye dead between the eyes, or this guy was an amatuer and Tony would get shot _again_.

"Hurts." Tony slurred, exhaustion clear in his voice.

Jethro leant forward just a fraction-it was all he could do in that position-water dripping off his frame, and kissed Tony slowly.

Tony swallowed, opening his eyes, orbs of bright green staring down at him, and Gibbs felt as if he were in the spot light suddenly. "Better." he choked out, with a lingering smile-however strained it may have been.

"What?" Abby nearly ran outside, until McGee held her in place.

"Abby! There's a gunman out there! Stay here!"

The officer shook her head, "One of our men found the sniper, we've got him surrounded on the roof as we speak."

Abby shook Tim off and ran after Kate, who'd already been a few minutes ahead of them, as soon as she'd heard the outburst, McGee and Duck not far behind, including the two Marshals.

Kate stood there in awe for a moment. The scene was hard to take in. Gibbs lay on the water fountain floor, soaked to the bone, Tony on all fours, over her Boss, only slightly wet, as if they'd been tackling eachother in the water and Gibbs had gotten the brunt of it, while Tony had only gotten splashed. But the massive amount of blood was a stark contrast to the baby-blue hue of Tonys' sweater, and it stood out immensely.

However, all of this, Kate had seen worse-Tony had contracted the plague for shits' sake. It was when Leroy Jethro Gibbs, extra B for bastard, leaned in and kissed Anthony DiNozzo, notorious womanizer, smack dab on the lips. She'd officially seen it all. Oh Lord.

Gibbs heard the ambulance near their location, could almost see the lights past Tonys' frame hovering over him.

"The sniper's in custody!" McGee yelled from a few yards away, as he ran to his team mates.

Tony closed his eyes again, muttered, "Thank God." and passed out, landing half on top of Gibbs, half beside him in the fountain, the paramedics rushing to his aid.

"Anthony was quite lucky," Duck told the team solemnly once they were in the hospital and he'd spoken to some of the nurses. "He received a blood transfusion and surprisingly enough, he only needed stiches for the bullet wound, which, one of the nurses informed me, was a clean shot, t'wasn't logded in his shoulder or anything. In fact, given the circumstances, dear Anthony should be able to come home with us sometime later tonight." he regaled.

"Really?" Abby bounced up and down, "That's awesome! I thought the bullet had knicked an artery or something. There'd been so much blood!"

Ducky nodded in agreement, "He did lose quite a lot of blood, yes, but it appears our boy is simply a heavy bleeder, and all the weight he was putting on that shoulder was not helping any, either." he explained.

While the team, plus the two Marshals breathed a sigh of relief, Gibbs was seated close enough that he could hear them, but far enough away that the 'don't bother me' message was clear. Ducky, however, had apparently left his reading glasses home, and cautiously approched their fearless leader, who looked lost in thought.

"It was not your fault Jethro." he said softly, startling the man.

Gibbs shook his head, "I'm going back to the station to interrogate this sonofabitch who shot my senior field agent." he ground out through gritted teeth, standing up.

"Jethro, what about Anthony? He will be crushed when he realizes you are not there when he awakens." the doctor asked.

"The team, that includes you and Abby, plus the two Marshals, are officially under protection-I called the cavalry in a few minutes ago. They should be here to escort you all back to NCIS when DiNozzo wakes up. Right now, case or not, NCIS is the safest place for us." He concluded, already on his way out of the hospital before Ducky could object to his leaving again.

"Oh my." the older gentleman shook his head. His old friend could be so stubborn sometimes.

On his drive back to the station, Gibbs wanted to scream. How could he have let Tony take a bullet that was meant for himself? Why hadn't he been more aware? Damnitall, this was why he'd established rule 12:

Never date a coworker.

A/N: Didja' like it? Worked on it all night, hope it wasn't too over the top? Anywho, next chapter's on it's way. :) Review please! Thanks for reading. :D


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: This took me longer than anticipated, but yeah, here it is. Also, I just realized that after seven chapters I haven't clarified that I do not in any way own NCIS (because if I did everyone would appreciate Tony a lot more and nobody would ever even blink at all the slashy scene I'd coordinate :o!) Hope you guys enjoy!

EIGHT.

"YOU KNOW, WE COULD RUN AWAY, SHAWN."

"No, we couldn't. Maybe you could, but I've got the kids and I'm late on the rent again so the landlords' been on my ass abou-"

"Babe, relax a minute." Nero kissed Shawns lips. "You're only sixteen, remember that, yeah?" he swooped down to kiss him again, put his arms around his young lovers' waist, his forehead to Shawns', and looked into his eyes. "I'm not saying now. Just, when the kids get older, ten years from now-"

"Alie will still only be sixteen by then-" Shawn cut in with a smile.

"Then we'll take her with us." Nero said easily. "Ten years from now the three of us will be living the high life. We'll travel 'round the world. We'll go to cocktail parties we weren't invited to. We'll have a home in every state in case we get tired and want somewhere to rest. We'll eat out at fancy restaurants every night-"

"We'll be big as whales." Shawn complained, his wide smile betraying the words he'd uttered at Neros' pipe dreams.

"Happy whales?" Nero offered, tilting his head, kissing him again, this time playfully and sweetly.

Shawn laughed, "Happy whales." he agreed, deepening the kiss.

"Happy...whales..." Tony muttered, head lolling against the windsheild of the car.

Gibbs looked over at his senior field agent for a second before his eyes went back to the slippery road ahead of them. It was raining horribly and the clouds had darkened the sky considerably even though it was only still noon.

Yesterday, after the shooting, Gibbs had gone back to interrogate the sniper the officers had caught on the roof opposite their building, trying to make a quick escape. He'd not said a word, not even when Gibbs used his best scare tactics on him. If anything, he'd looked more afraid of the walls. He'd noticed the man, Drake Hobbs, kept glancing somewhere over his shoulder the entire time while in the interrogation room. Needless to say, even with all the threats, Gibbs had gotten nowhere.

Gibbs had demanded the man be taken to NCIS head quarters in Washingotn DC that night and had called to inform the Director of the recent developments of their case, as well.

The doctors had admitted Tony over night, just to make sure he wouldn't need another blood transfusion, but he'd only woken up briefly during the whole debacle, and had slept so soundly, what with all those drugs in his system, that he hadn't had a chance to complain about his stay at the hospital.

Gibbs hoped Tony hadn't noticed that he'd not been there when he woke up. He had to distance himself from him, after all. That he'd chosen to take Tony in his car back to DC, while McGee and Ziva drove the van back with Abby, Ducky and Palmer guided back by the two Marshals, plus a car of security ahead of them, didn't help at all. Tony was hopped up on pain meds, and still drowsy, his shoulder carefully wrapped, arm in a sling to keep it from jostling. He must've been extremely out of it if he was dreaming about happy whales. Gibbs shook his head.

Tony whimpered in his sleep, features suddenly pained. "Nero...no..." He began to fidget in his seat.

Gibbs, afraid he would pull at his stitches in the car, called out his name in his military tone, "Tony! Wake up!"

With a start, he did just that. "Wha'?"

"You were talking about whales in your sleep, thought maybe you needed to get off your dream high." Gibbs explained. "How's your arm?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

Tony must've been really out of it. He didn't even remember getting into the car that morning, he'd been so tired. He still felt a little weak, and there was that dull ache in his left arm, still, but otherwise he felt fine. "It's good." he replied after a small pause of taking inventory of his injury. "Hey Boss?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you mad at me?" Tony looked down at his lap. He'd been high off every drug in the book yesterday, but the one time he had woken up, everyone except Jethro had been in the room waiting for him to open his eyes, and he'd be damned if he hadn't missed that fact.

He noticed Gibbs hands tightened at the wheel when he answered, "No DiNozzo. Go back to sleep."

"Then why weren't you at the hospital last night?"

"I was busy." he answered coldly.

Realization dawned on Tony. "God, Gibbs, you're impossible, you know that? You think this is your fault, don't you? That my getting shot by some psycho with a sniper rifle was somehow your fault?" When Gibbs didn't say a word, he continued. "That's like me blaming myself for what happened thirteen years ago-I didn't ask to get stalked Gibbs, it just happened." He took a deep breath. "Being all stoic and trying to send me a message to keep away from you, hoping I won't jump in front of another bullet for you again isn't going to work. You're my partner, whether we loved eachother or not, I'd have your six. If we were in that same situation all over again I wouldn't change a thing, Gibbs, so please get your head out of your ass. You love me, I love you. Why can't it just be that simple? I need you right now, I've needed you for years, and I'll need you for years to come, so please don't do this to me. I'm yours Gibbs, get that through your thick skull."

It was after a few moments of silence that Tony spoke again. "Say something already." he mummbled, looking out the window now, shuffling his feet around in the car, thinking maybe he'd said too much.

"Tony, I need to know something." Gibbs said, gripping the wheel with more force than was necessary. "Would you have ever told me about everything that's been revealed in the last three days if that psycho hadn't shown up first and blown your cover?"

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, and thought about his answer honestly for a few minute. Silence had engulfed the car until he spoke again. "Frankly? No, it wouldn't have even occured to me."

Gibbs hadn't been expecting that. He'd been expecting anything but that. "Not even about how you broke those two ribs?" that certainly hadn't been WitSec, so Tony had no reason not to tell him or the team about it.

Tony shook his head, "No." he replied again, very sincere and not at all shamed that he'd keep those things secret to Gibbs and his team.

"Why the hell not?" he nearly growled. "And don't tell me it wasn't any of my damned business, 'cause we've been over that already."

"Because, Boss, my life is one big classified secret." Tony responded, voice bitter this time. "And...the stuff I've done in my past, Gibbs, I'm not proud of, at all. I never wanted to see your face if I ever had to tell you any of it. I've tried to forget it for the most part. What these last three days have been for me? Hell. I never wanted to relieve any of this. I love my family, but talking about them dregdes up everything else I'd vowed to forget." Tony looked away. "That time, in the bathroom, with McGee, before I passed out? I was bawling like a baby on his shirt. It was the first time any of those old feelings had been brought up in thirteen years. Gibbs, seeing my family on that screen, how we used to be, it killed me."

Jethro understood only too well. After the deaths of his wife and daughter, watching videos or looking through old photographs of them broke his heart to pieces for years. Now, whenever he was feeling lonely, he'd look at the photos or play the home video and feel nostalgic and smile at their memories. Tony, on the other hand, hadn't had pictures and videos of his family to even look at for the past thirteen years; he'd been trying to forget about them all this time.

"I know, Tony. I can-"

A blinding light and something hitting the front of the car fullforce, made Gibbs swerve on the open road, rain pelting their windshield, making it hard to see what the hell it had been. Gibbs hit the breaks, the car taking longer than usual to stop because of the rain.

Three cars pulled up around theirs.

"Oh my God, guys, are you okay?" Abby asked, once she'd reached their car door.

The front of the car was smoking and Gibbs was sure any minute now it would start going up in flames. "What the hell just happened?" he questioned, looking to his right, his anger disapearing instantly, only to be replaced by concern. They'd been tossed about in the car, and Tony'd been so jostled that his stitches had tore. He was clearly in pain again, holding his arm close to his chest.

"I'll be fine." He assured his two friends. "What happened?"

"Umm," Abby tried to center her thoughts again, just as Kate, McGee, the two Marshals, and two police escorts ran up to the car to check up on them, Ducky trailing behind them with his medical bag. "You guys got hit by lightening. Which is like, wild." she uttered, clearly shocked but morbidly fascinated by the natural phenomena.

Thankfully neither of them were injured, except for Tonys' torn stitches, and with help the two got out of the car, just in time for flames to start tickling the large dent the strike of lightening had left on their car.

"Holy cheesus." Tony and Abby muttered simultaneously, garnering strange looks from everyone in the vacinity.

"We're vaguely religious." Tony explained, as a chuckling Ducky lead him to his van to get his shoulder checked more thoroughly, Gibbs at their heels like a hound dog.

"Come dear boy, take off your jacket and let's see the damage." Ducky sat him down, Palmer holding an umbrella over them.

Tony took off his jacket with some difficulty, jarring his shoulder some, in the process, not able to hide his wince. Without much thought, Gibbs took hold of his hand as Duck unwrapped the now bloody bandages on Tonys' shoulder.

Ducky hid his smile at the open gesture he knew his old friend hadn't even realized he'd made, when it was obvious Tony had relaxed because of it.

He re-wrapped the boys' shoulder with care. "Unfortunately I don't have the tools needed to re-stitch the wound here, but hopefully the new bandage will stem the bleeding and when we get back to Washington, we can fix you up in my office." Duck patted the young mans knee.

With a couple of hours left on their trip back to DC, they left the damaged vehicle for the auto-repair team one of the officers had phoned in. Gibbs and Tony squeezed into the other car with Kate, McGee and Abby.

It was weird to see Gibbs not in the front seat for once. He was in the back with Tony and Abby, while McGee drove the van, Kate having called shotgun.

Tony unconciously lay his head against Gibbs, who accepted the weight easily, and pulled him in closer. Abby yawned and leaned her own head on Gibbs right shoulder, smiling when he wrapped an arm gently over both of them as the two dozed lightly.

McGee spared a quick glance from the rearview mirror at his backseat passangers, and he wasn't a big gusher or anything, but he thought that anyone who'd have seen the scene right then would've deemed it heart-warming, if not adorable. Tony looked absolutely exhausted, he noted with worry. He'd been through a lot in the past few days. Weeks, possibly. He couldn't help but wonder where Tony had been for three weeks if not with his father... Tony wouldn't lie about something like that, Tim knew him enough to be sure of that.

"I saw you and Tony kiss yesterday at the water fountain." Kate blurted out suddenly. "Maybe you guys thought you were at the brink of death or something and-"

"He was in pain, I wanted to distract him. That a problem?" Gibbs questioned stoicly, hand wrapping protectively over Tony instinctively, tighter. This startled Tony to wake up when he felt the abrupt pressure on his injured shoulder, something Gibbs hadn't intended, and he groaned in discomfort. "Sorry." Jethro muttered instantly into his hair, letting go of his arm.

"S'okay." he blinked awake, Abby doing the same on the other side of Gibbs, as if subconciously feelings things in the car had gone North.

"What's wrong?" She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Gibbs squeezed her shoulder. "Agent Todd had something to say."

All eyes were on Kate, except McGees' who were on the road, although his ears certainly were preoccupied with listening in.

She grimaced. "I'm not going to be made the bad guy in all this. I saw you two kiss yesterday, and I'm sure as hell not going to stay shut about it. All those times you recited rule number twelve to us? Never date a co-worker, wasn't it? Not to mention, you're both men. In case you guys didn't get the memo, it's Adam and Eve, not Steve." Kate glared at the two. "And I'm sure Director Shepard would agree with me."

A/N: I know not much occured (in terms of moving the initial plot along and stuff) but the next one will (hopefully) be better and move things along? I hope you guys review. They seriously mean a lot to me. :) Makes me know you guys are still reading my fic, keeps me encouraged and all that jazz. Thanks, and also thank you to everyone who reviewed and read my last chapter. :D You guys are awesome. 3 And there is soooo much more to come. This story is a long way from finished, yet.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I know nothing about medicine! None the less, I hope you guys enjoy! :) And afterward, ya' know...press that big REVIEW button at the bottom (wouldn't kill ya', I gaurantee it)...let's me know that more than like six people are still interested in this story? O: And THANK YOU so much to all you wonderful people who have reviewed my story thus far, it means the world to me. :D Sorry for the shortness of this chapter btw. :I Next one will be longer (and a lot more productive), I promise.

NINE.

"SHAWN, WE CAN'T STAY HERE FOREVER." Nero was restless. "I hate it here. You hate it here. Everyone hates it here. You don't really expect to live out the rest of your days here, do you?"

Shawn looked down, "I haven't thought that far ahead, Nero, I mean, the farthest I've looked is where tomorrow's meal is coming from. I'm tired of stealing from the supermarket all the time. I need extra shifts."

Nero shook his head, "I know it's hard right now, but-"

"Jesus, Nero, don't you get it? Yeah, this life sucks, who wants to be doing this to earn a living? Who wants to steal from food places to feed their family? I don't even have a fucking highschool diploma-"

"You can go back to school, Shawn, I can work harder and you can go back-"

"No! Stop!" Shawn put his head in his hands. "I was okay before you came along and started putting all these dreams of something better into my head! I was fine-"

Nero stood up, started shouting. "The hell you were fine! Shawn, nobody should have to do any of this! You're so bright, you can go back to school, get a GED, go to college, that's your dream, right? You shouldn't have to be-"

Shawn winced, a sharp pain in his shoulder.

Tony groaned in pain, his shoulder on fire for a moment more, before he felt the pressure lessen. Heard a startled and genuine, "Sorry." from his Boss.

"S'okay." Tony muttered back, now semi-awake, the memory of the dream still fresh in his head. He remembered yelling at Nero that night, on the tiny roof of his tiny apartment in the ghetto. He remembered being so distraught, so angry, feeling so helpless. Nero was such a dreamer, and for someone who'd been living paycheck to crummy paycheck, stealing to survive, and under the stress of rent, three kids, and a clinically depressed father, Neros' simplistic optimisim of a better life somewhere out there seemed almost mocking.

They'd had their first real fight that night. He'd been so mad, he'd said things he hadn't meant, things he'd had no right to say to Nero. And Nero had given as good as he got. They'd known eachother too well, and every remark and retort had been aimed to hurt. He still remembered Neros' back as he climbed the fire escape back down. He remembered sitting there, steaming with anger and hurt, thinking '_Is this it? This is my life? There's got to be more than this_...'

"...Director Shepard would agree with me." he heard Kate say, not sure what she was talking about, his mind in other places, concentrating more on Nero and his aching arm.

"Kate! What the hell?" Abby yelled-why did she sound so angry? Tony couldn't tell, his stomach was in knots though. He'd been having this dull throbbing pain in his stomach for the past couple of days. At first he'd figured it was nothing more than his bruised ribs acting up again, but the ache was soley in his stomach, not his chest.

He leaned his head back on Gibbs shoulder, not feeling so good all of a sudden. They were still screaming somewhere above him.

"You're being ridiculous, Kate!" McGee had joined into the conversation, sounding as irritated and baffled as Abby, if not more. Why were they yelling at her? Tony opened his eyes, could see Kates' face, a mixture of hurt and defensive. Abby looked as miffed as he'd ever seen her. He couldn't see McGee in the drivers' seat, but he spotted his hands on the wheel, and his knuckles were white, like Gibbs had been in the other vehicle. Were they going to get hit by lightening again, he wondered briefly, not liking that idea at all.

Gibbs, Abbys, Tims, and Kates voices all blended together-there were various emotions in all of their voices, but anger was the main one Tony could pick up on. Tony wanted to speak up, say something. Tell them to stop ganging up on Kate. It wasn't fair, three against one, afterall. The voices began to blur, now becoming nothing more than a loud buzzing in his ears.

He tugged on Gibbs shirt sleeve. He didn't feel good at all. Something was wrong, he realized. But he was too weak, and his tug wasn't enough to garner any attention, not from Gibbs or anyone in the car. They were still screaming. It reminded him of that awful night on his rooftop. His voice had been sore for a couple of days still, after he and Nero had belted it out.

"Boss..." his voice was strained and just barely above a whisper. Tony tugged a little harder, but to no avail. They were still yelling over him-there should have been a law against yelling in such close proximity.

Tony started coughing, at first very softly, like it was building up, and then the cough worsened, louder, and rough, by the sound of it. He bought one hand up to his mouth, the coughs not ceasing; it was getting harder to breathe right.

"Tony!" someone above him screamed. "Oh God!" somebody else yelled, "Stop the car! Get Ducky! Now!"

His coughs had turned into wet coughs; his mouth felt sticky and there was a bad taste of something akin to iron in his mouth now. The world still a big blur of noises and colour, Tony turned his gaze downward, realized belatedly what had everyone so panicked.

His hand was covered in blood. A lot of it. Had he cut it on something? No, that couldn't be right. His hand didn't hurt, although his throat sure as hell did. He felt an arm around him, probably Gibbs'-he'd almost forgotten he was half-laying on him. His blood had also stained his Bosses windbreaker, he noticed.

"Tony, hold on, Ducks' coming now." he heard Gibbs whisper to him, as he held him closer. He was so tired, though, now that he'd finally stopped coughing, his entire chest felt as if it were on fire.

The last thing he saw before passing out were the worried eyes of his friend Ducky. Heard a faint, "Oh my." to accompany the view.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: ...The big one O.

TEN.

'SHAWN! TELL HIM TO LEAVE ME ALONE!' Simon signed, fed up.

"But I need help with my homework!" Matt complained. "Shawn, help me!"

A bundle of joy named Alie ran out into the living room, right into her older brothers open arms. "M'hungry!" she whined, hugging him tight, as she clung to his neck.

"Shawn, we're starved, where the hell have you been?" His older brother, Jack, demanded.

"Oooh, Shawnie, he said a cuss word!" Alie awed, her face in disbelief.

"'Hell' isn't a cuss word, Al." Jack rolled his eyes.

Shawn heaved a sigh, as he balanced the little girl on one hip, and Matts math book in the other hand, to see what his kid brother needed help with. "Well don't repeat it, Jack." he chastised. "And one of the guys was out sick so I took an extra shift."

"Where's Nero? Doesn't he usually drop you off from work?" Jack asked, as he sat at the table, cracked open a beer can, and started drinking.

Shawn started making dinner, Matt trailing behind with his math book, and Alie babbling on about her first grade teachers' new baby. "He's been busy." he muttered, in response.

"Well tell him to get un-busy, I don't like you walking home this damn late." Jack paused, "And yes, Alie, 'damn' is a cuss word. Don't repeat anything I say. I'm a bad influence." he assured his little sister.

Shawn shook his head, "Cute."

Jack grinned. "Aren't I?"

Alie giggled. "Nuh-uh Jack! Shawnie says I'm the prettiest girl in this house."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Well duh, Alie, you're like, the only girl _in _the house."

"Shawnie! Matt says I'm not prettiful!" Alie cried out.

Matt shoved her, "No! Stop lying! I just told her she's being stupid!"

"Hey, no cussin'!" Jack called out from the table.

Simon rolled his eyes, signed, 'That's rich, coming from you.'

Jack glared at the fourteen year-old. "Shawn, tell Simon to shove it!" He said, while signing it deliberately, so that he knew he was being ignored.

Shawn, Shawn, Shawn. He was very close to changing his name. He'd gotten up extra early to make the kids breakfast and lunches, he'd walked the little ones to school, he'd come back home, made sure their dad ate, reminded Jack his classes at the community college started in an hour, made him lunch as well, cleaned the house, went to his part-time construction job, worked a double shift at his other job-which just had to be the worst job in the world, then had come home to a babbling toddler, a grouchy ten year old with unresolved math homework, a deaf teen, and a demanding college-boy who should've gotten home early enough to make dinner so he wouldn't have to-

"Why didn't you make dinner again?" Shawn asked, facing his older brother with a slight glare.

Jack stopped arguing with Simon enough to shrug, "You know I can't cook." he excused.

Shawn sighed, continued chopping the veggies on the counter, while Matt tugged at his pants leg, reading aloud math problems in his book, and Alie danced circles in between his legs, singing a new song she'd learned that morning.

From a few feet away, he could hear Simon slam his fists against the table, clearly mad at Jack, who signed something back that Shawn couldn't see, and "Pshed" loudly enough for him to hear. "Stop fighting!" He called out, too occupied with dinner to turn around and sign, and hoping Jack acted his age for once and listened.

"Shawnie! You're not listenin' to my song!" Alie complained, all pouty lipped and bambi eyes in play, stomping her tiny feet.

"Forget her, Shawn, I need help with this dumb math stuff!" Matt yelled over her.

"Matt's being mean again!"

He could hear another slam from the kitchen table-Simon and Jack still arguing about God knew what. His Dad, a shell of the man he'd once been, walked into the kitchen, sat at his place at the table, waited for his food. He'd gone into a depressive state so severe after his beloved wife had died, he just barely functioned anymore. He was like a none-hyperactive child, kept on a strict schedule, given his vitamins everyday, told never to answer the door to strangers, took regular naps through out the day, had to be fed sometimes, and sometimes he would just sit down and start outright sobbing in the middle of a room.

Everyone was still fighting, either for his attention or something petty, and his Dad, who was usually fed dinner no later than 8pm every night, started banging his silverware against the table loudly, a normal occurance whenever his schedule was off, so nobody paid it any mind. They were all much too busy yelling at one another.

Shawn had been feeling like crap all day. The fight on the roof top last night was still fresh in his mind. Nero had ignored him at work today and that had hurt more than he wanted to admit. Then he'd taken on that extra shift so that Nero wouldn't feel obligated to take him home after work in his car, but Nero hadn't even bothered looking back on his way out. He just wanted everyone to shut up for a minute. Nero was both his best friend and his first _everything_, the thought of never talking to him again hadn't left his mind since yesterday and he had barely slept a wink.

"-nd the frog turned into a prince, Shawnie, in the story book Misses Applebee read us today, and-"

"Jesus, Alie, shut up already, nobody cares about the damned frog!" Jack yelled from across the room.

Simon shoved Jack, signed, 'You made her cry! You're such an asshole!'

Alie had indeed started wailing, Matt trying to speak over her, "We're doing the times tables and-"

"Don't touch me you nerd!" Jack shoved Simon back.

Shawn started coughing; damn fumes from the stove were starting to get to him. Five minutes later, he couldn't stop. One hand over his mouth, the other holding himself up against the kitchen counter, Shawn struggled to catch his breath suddenly.

The coughing was becoming worse, he felt almost like throwing up, instead something sticky and warm coated his fingers and half the kitchen counter.

"Jesus Shawn, get some water or something for that cou-" everyone had noticed their brothers' coughing getting progressively worse, and Jack had come up behind his little brother, ready to pat his back, when he saw it. His brother was covered in blood, his hand dripping with the disgusting liquid. He grabbed his brother, whose coughing had started to cease, and held him close to his chest. "Oh God, Shawnie, breathe, kiddo, c'mon, just breathe." Jack coached him nervously, hands shaking as they ran up and down Shawns' back.

Alie and Matt had started crying loudly at the sight of blood, Simon couldn't move, his brother had started coughing up _blood! _His brother, the person who'd taken care of him since he was seven, practically, was having trouble _breathing_!

Their Dad, John, not understanding what was happening, but also knowing he hadn't been fed yet, and it was well pase eight o' clock, had started to sob along with the small children, throwing his eating utensils on he floor.

The twenty year old carried his brother to their room, laid him down on the bed, where he lay limply, still attempting to breathe right, hacking coughs racking his frame.

Simon stumbbled inside, wads of napkins in his hands, gave them to Jack, who in turn made work of wiping away the blood around Shawns' mouth, chin, and the palms of his hand. 'Get me a cup of water.' he signed, his tremblings hands making it hard to do so properly.

Simon nodded, running out of the room; anything to not feel completely useless.

"Hey, buddy, stay with me, yeah?" Jack wiped the sweat from his brothers brow.

Shawn reached up, eyes glazed. "Gibbs..."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Stress?" Gibbs gawked, not entirely sure why he would be surprised.

Ducky nodded, "There have been many a cases wherein a person has accumilated so much stress, it builds into stomach cramps, and eventually the coughing up of blood. And I do say, our dear Anthony has been through hell these past few days, Jethro."

"Gibbs..." Tony moaned, stretching out on Gibbs lap, where he'd been laid down on when Ducky had come to examine the younger man.

"I'm right here Tony." he muttered into one of Tonys' warm hands.

Tony slowly opened his eyes, orbs of green staring into Gibbs' ice blue eyes. "Love you Gibbs." he breathed, still quite dazed. Gibbs leaned down and kissed his forehead, not caring that Duck, Abby, and his team were witnesses to the display.

Kate felt a million types of guilty right then and there. The affection the two shared was something that she, as a profiler, had already seen years ago. She'd turned a blind eye to it; she wouldn't bring herself to believe either of her two 'dream guys' were eachothers' dream guys. If she dug deeper, Kate realized she'd been envious of Tony and Gibbs. They were so obviously good for eachother it was hard not to spot it from a mile away, and she'd found that she too longed for that; someone she could feel so comfortable around, someone she could call out for when the going got tough, someone she could wake up to and mummble the words Tony had just uttered to Gibbs, and have that person lean down and kiss you in the most tender way possible.

She didn't care that they were both men. Live and let live, wasn't that the saying? And she didn't care that they were co-workers. Rules were meant to be broken, right? So really, that the two of them wanted to be together, and were happy in doing so, why would it possibly bother her? They were quite the couple to behold, after all.

"I'm sorry." she apologized. "I didn't mean to-you guys are-I wish you all the luck in the world." she finished, bowing her head, ashamed of herself.

Tony, not very sure what was going on, tilted his head on Gibbs lap, "'Pologies 're sign of weakness, Katy." he drawled, clinging onto the material of Gibbs shirt as he drifted back to sleep.

Gibbs and Kate smiled.

A/N: **R-E-V-I-E-W**. I need my daily fix, I'm like an addict at this point, it's ridiculous. :D


	11. Chapter 11

A.N Sorry for the lack of updates lately D: The kids and summer homework and the festival have kept me busy! But here it is! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE READING! :D Enjoy!

ELEVEN.

HERE IT WAS. No turning back.

It wasn't a case of now or never, however. More like a now or ten minutes from now type of thing.

Everyone had gotten to NCIS, Gibbs had informed the director of the last three days, even about Tonys' identity, and the two Marshalls had been there to once again explain why he was in WitSec; she expected to be kept updated. Now the team, Abby, Duck, and the Marshalls sat around an oval shaped table in an empty office. The reason why was that they'd gotten a cassette sent to NCIS. It couldn't be tracked, and it was labeled 'Shawn-work'.

Tony knew already what was on that tape, and he wanted to be the one to tell his team about _it_, he didn't want them to find out firsthand from that tape-he didn't want anyone to find that particular secret out. Not even his family knew, only Nero had known his secret.

He fidgeted in his seat for a moment. He'd opted to sit opposite his team, including Gibbs. He didn't want to be so close as to be able to feel their disgust after he told them.

"Umm, in that tape, I think, I'm pretty sure what's on it already." he muttered, knowing that whether or not he knew what was on the tape, his team would have no choice but to watch it anyway; this was an ongoing investigation after all. They had damn security standing outside the door, and teams securing the perimeter for any suspicious persons.

"What is it?" Kate was the first to ask, knowing it was more insight to her partners' former life, and more than a little curious as to why he wanted to explain before letting them see it.

"Like I said before, I was thirteen when my mom died, and after that, we were kind of broke. Dads' paychecks usually went to pay for her medical bills, and then the funeral cost a lot, and shortly after her death, Dad got really depressed, he quit his job, he stopped paying all the bills for the house, so we ended up having to move into the city.

"We rented a small apartment in a shady kinda' neighborhood, transfered schools and all that. The only reason we could afford the apartment was my moms life insurance and some emergency savings Dad had stored." Tony bit his bottom lip. "I was supposed to be graduating that year, going to high school, but, there was a mix up, my papers hadn't been transfered through to the other school, there was only like a month left for me to graduate too. Instead of trying to get the papers fixed at the local school, I decided to drop out." That had been one of the many worst days of his life. He'd been a bright student, he'd been good at school, he'd wanted to go onto a good high school, then onto a great college; he'd wanted to be a doctor.

"Didn't your dad notice?" McGee spoke up, feeling terribly for his friend. Such a rough life and he'd only been thirteen then. "Why'd you even quit?"

Tony shook his head, "Dad didn't talk anymore, or do anything, really. So, he was never aware of anything that happened anymore at that point." he said softly. It hurt to remember his father a lot of the time. He wanted to remember him as the vibrant hard-working man, the amazing dad he'd been, but his memories of him were blurred and mixed with the stoic lifeless figure that had occupied the couch in their living room for the better part of four years.

"And the reason I quit school was to work full-time. I knew that what was left of the insurance and our emergency money wasn't going to be enough to pay the rent for more than a couple of months and feed six mouths at the same time. So I dropped out and I took a job working as the cashier for this convinience store a few blocks away." Tony gripped at his sleeve. "Eventually though, we ran out of the insurance money and our savings, and I worked every shift I could get, but minimum wage only got you so far when you had rent to pay and five mouths to feed at home."

"You had an older brother, Jack, right? Why couldn't you two both work part-time, you could've both stayed in school that way." Abby offered fruitlessly.

Tony shook his head, "Jack was like Dad in a way, he was almost seventeen and really angry with everything, I remember that year, he barely came home at nights. He wasn't exactly any help." he shrugged.

"What did you do to pay the rent that month, then, dear?" Duck asked, clearly concerned.

Tony shrugged again. "I decided to work only part time at the store, in the mornings and afternoons. That was I could pick up the kids from school, pick Alie up from daycare-another bill I was late on-and feed them once we got home, help with homework, make sure Dad ate and didn't just lie on the couch all day." he grimaced. "The landlord and the daycare gave me extensions on the payments I owed them.

"And then, I finally found a second job that paid well enough that I didn't hafta' worry about the family starving or ending up on the streets...or both." he breathed in deep. "I worked at a strip club, and that's the footage that's probably on that tape right now."

"What? Tony, you were only thirteen." Abby gasped.

"I was fourteen by then, and I was pretty tall for my age, and the manager of the joint didn't really care. He hired a lot of underage workers, and it was such a bad neighborhood cops never checked it out or anything. The pay was really good, no taxes or anything." he muttered, clearly ashamed.

There was a long moment of silence. Nobody could believe what they'd just heard.

Finally, Tim spoke up, his voice very-Probie-like. "D-do we have to watch the tape?" he didn't think he could stand it, to watch one of his closest friends have to work at some strip club to support his family, and at such a young age, too? It was too much.

Gibbs got up, put the tape inside the player of the television set they had in the room, and hit play, his face very stoic. They had no choice but to watch this footage.

Static and blurred gray turned to color and shapes.

_There was a fog of smoke in the place, and men drinking beers, laughing loudly, yelling out across the room. _

_The camera zoomed in to one of the dancers on the platform stage. It was Shawn, older, sure, but his face was just as child-like as it had been in the prior video. Older men, tied skewed, grins on their faces pulled the boy toward them, placing money into his shorts, petting him, leering at him. _

Gibbs and everyone else in the room with him wanted to vomit. These men were touching a child as if he were some sort of sex object. Jesus Christ.

_Shawn was clearly forcing himself to smile-if that tiny quirk of the lips and half grimace was considered a smile. After a few minutes Shawn left the stage. _

The camera flickered and when it turned back on, the view was from a room that looked like it was backstage.

_Shawn put a t-shirt on and a pair of jeans on over the shorts. "Hey Papi, why you get dressed again? You looked better without the clothes." An older teen, maybe eighteen, winked at him. _

_Shawn frowned, choosing to ignore the guy, and walked off, pocketing his earnings. It was dark out, as he finished his shift and left the strip club. A man, one of the men in the club, who'd been touching Shawn, walked out after him, caught up to him, pushed the boy against the wall, smashed their lips together. Shawn struggled under his grasp, yelled "Get the fuck off me!" to no avail. _

Gibbs stomach sunk. Was he about to watch Tony get raped? Oh God, no. He couldn't.

_"Get your dirty hands off him, you fat fuckwit!" a figure behind the man warned, right before he turned the menace around and socked him. The older man was so frightened, he ran off as quickly as he'd assaulted the young boy. _

_"Hey," the figure was a taller teen, probably sixteen or seventeen, he was dark-skinned and muscled. "You alright kid?" he crouched down to be at eye-level with Shawn, who'd slid down the wall he'd been shoved against, and had stayed there. _

_Shawn shook his head no, put his head between his legs and let out a sob. _

_The older teen frowned, looking as if he didn't know what to do. "Hey, it's okay now, you're fine. You're fine, right? He didn't hurt you bad?"_

_Shawn shook his head again, and the older teen noticed he was trembling. "You're new at this, huh?" he asked quietly. "You're the youngest I've ever seen at this joint. What are you, fifteen?" _

_"F-fourteen." he mummbled, head still tucked between his legs, completely shaken by what could have happened. _

_"Jesus, you're a baby." the older boy muttered. "Look, I usually don't do this, but if you want, I can drive you to your house or whatever. This neighborhoods' crummy, you're still out of it, and it's dark out. C'mon, my trucks right there." he pointed out the beat up truck across the parking lot, with rusted red paint peeling off. _

_Shawn normally didn't accept rides from strangers but this particular stranger had saved his ass on this occasion. He stood up on shaky legs and followed the older teen to his car. "So where do you live?" Shawn gave him his adress and stared vacantly out the window. _

_"I think we have similar shifts down at the club, if you're okay with it, I can drive you back on late nights. It's dangerous out and stuff, this time a night." The teen murmured, trying to look disinterested. _

_Shawn looked up at him. "Thanks." he said softly. "For...what you did back there. Thank you." _

_The teen shrugged, "So, what's your name, again?" _

_"Shawn. You?" _

_"Nero." _

A.N. REVIEW! Pretty please with sugar and Tonywhump on top?


	12. Chapter 12

A.N. Still super late with updates to this fic and I apologize . *ran out of excuses* So here it is! Enjoy! Also, sorry for the shortness!

TWELVE.

IT WAS HARD TO BELIEVE that only a few days ago everything had been relatively normal.

Now, well, things couldn't be worse. The team knew almost everything about his past life, the marshals, the wit sec, his family, Nero, and the stripping. Nothing to brag about, surely. Tony sighed, wiped the blood running from his nose with his sleeve, not caring that it wasn't exactly sanitary.

Stress had never done Tony any good, and his body's way of coping with stress was to give him nose bleeds. The only times he ever coughed blood was when the stress had mounted to levels he couldn't bare anymore.

Gibbs came up behind him and handed him a wad of tissues. "You alright?" _Stupid question_, Gibbs thought, even as the words came out of his mouth.

Tony looked up, surprised. He'd taken refuge in Abby's empty lab soon after the video had been shown, all the memories of Nero taking hold of him in a vice grip becoming too much. "Been better." he replied sincerely, holding the tissues up to his bloody nose.

From this angle, Tony looked much younger, Gibbs thought, as he sat down next to him.

After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, Tony spoke up. "Do you hate me?"

Gibbs looked at him, so shocked by the question, he didn't reply immediately.

Taking the silence as answer enough, Tony stood up abruptly and tried to leave Abigails office, 'till he felt Gibbs tug at his shirt, and gently pull him back to him. "Tony, I don't hate you. I could never hate you." He hugged the younger man to his chest, Tonys back to him.

"Really?" Tonys voice was small.

"I love you, Tony." Gibbs rested his chin on his agents shoulder. "Nothing is going to change that."

Tony looked away. "Gibbs, I...the things I did back then-"

"You did what you thought you had to for your family. I can't imagine how awful it must have been, and I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but don't you dare think it'll make me love you any less."

"I was a fucking stripper Jethro!" he yelled suddenly, getting off his lap, pacing the room back and forth. "It was so disgusting and degrading! I couldn't hug my own kids when I got home, I felt so dirty! No matter how much I showered, the stench, their hands were still on me! I couldn't stand it!" Tony wiped a few stray tears. He'd never told anyone. And the one person who did know, always pretended everything was so fine and dandy. It was the first time ever he could openly vent about the ugly skeleton, hidden in his closet.

Gibbs took the man into his arms, even as he struggled and his chest heaved. "No, stop." he demanded, even as he melted into Jethros embrace. "Stop," he sobbed. "You should hate me." he cried. "I've lied to everyone, I'm still lying." he confessed, as he bawled his eyes out on Gibbs solid chest.

Jethro tried to comfort him as best as he knew how, holding him tight, wondering in the back of his mind what he could possibly still have up his sleeve. But that didn't seem important right now. Not nearly as important as his lovers' well-being. It was then that Abby ran into the office.

"Central Intelligence is here!" she announced, looking quite worried.

Gibbs blinked. "The CIA?" He wondered what the hell they had to do with any of this.

Tony stilled in his grasp.


End file.
